My Parent Is a TikToker

Read the campaign story

Five Star Chicken’s My Parent Is a TikToker brought parents and grandparents into creator-style social videos as an invitation to reconnect around Songkran. The One Show describes collaborations with TikTok creators and a film documenting the experience. April 2023 trade coverage confirms the seasonal release and credits BBDO Bangkok and Suneta House. The campaign connected its entertainment with the brand’s family-meal occasion.

Editorial interpretation: instead of asking an audience to leave its preferred medium before receiving the message, the campaign changes who appears inside that medium. A familiar creator format carries an unexpected family voice. The contrast can combine humour with recognition, making the invitation more personal than a generic holiday reminder. It is still a produced brand story, not evidence that every young person is neglecting family.

The sources report the campaign’s intention and selected interactions, not independently measured improvement in relationships. Some families are distant for valid reasons, and returning home may be impractical or unsafe. The historical surprise element should not be treated as a universal recipe. A responsible adaptation requires consent, room to decline and a broader understanding of meaningful connection than one compulsory public reunion.

Borrow a format without treating people as props

A creator collaboration works best when the creator understands how their audience recognises the format and when it feels authentic. Give participating relatives meaningful choices about what they say and how they appear. Avoid humour that depends on portraying older people as technologically incapable. Let the contrast arise from the unexpected role rather than humiliation. Discuss editing and publication before filming. In a new project, participants should know the commercial purpose and be able to decline without disappointing a loved one or losing access to a benefit. The relationship matters more than the surprise reveal.

Make the invitation flexible enough for real lives

A seasonal reunion story can create warmth while excluding people who cannot travel, work during holidays or have difficult family relationships. Offer different ways to connect, including a private message, a remote meal or time with chosen family. Do not equate buying the product with being a caring child or parent. Test the invitation with people outside the idealised household in the script. The useful brand role is to make an occasion easier or more enjoyable, not to judge whether someone’s relationship meets a campaign’s emotional standard. Practical constraints deserve space in the creative brief.

Keep public storytelling separate from private communication

A message that feels appropriate between relatives may become uncomfortable when edited into an advertisement. Obtain separate consent for contact, filming and publication, and explain where the content may travel. Do not access private accounts or messages merely to create a more convincing surprise. Give contributors a review process for sensitive material and a clear contact for concerns. Evaluate the campaign through voluntary feedback rather than requiring a public reaction. The team should be able to describe how it protected participants even if that makes the resulting film less dramatic than a carefully engineered reveal.

A bounded test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: a local restaurant could invite consenting adult pairs, including friends and chosen family, to co-create a short recipe introduction in a familiar social-video format. Both people know the purpose in advance and can keep their video private. Offer a separate, optional meal booking without linking participation to a public post. Compare the invitation with a standard seasonal menu message, asking whether it feels welcoming, relevant and easy to decline. Use only original music and formats cleared with collaborators. This tests an unexpected voice inside a familiar medium without surprise account access, emotional pressure or assumptions about who ought to return home.

Measure voluntary participation, comfort with the process, relevance of the meal offer, qualified bookings and reasons for declining. Separate entertaining reactions from relationship outcomes, and never treat a public reunion as proof that private circumstances improved.

Stop if participants feel pressured, private messages become campaign material without permission or the story shames people for maintaining necessary distance.