• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, March 23, 2020

McCann and the actor Kevin Bacon teamed to create a social-media campaign about the need for social distancing dubbed #IStayHomeFor. 

The idea stemmed from Bacon’s “connected” status as the man famous for being separated by just six degrees from everyone in the film industry, given the prolific nature of his decades-long career. 

Twenty-odd years ago, a party game, Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon, became a cultural phenomenon, which the actor embraced after some initial reluctance. The game followed a popular movie and play, “Six Degrees Of Separation,” which was based on the true story of a con artist. 

In the campaign, Bacon encourages people to stay home to foster social distancing and help flatten out the spread of COVID-19 — something that health officials pretty much everywhere have also encouraged, with varying degrees of success. Not surprisingly, Bacon himself is staying home for his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick. 

Bacon also encourages people to create a message declaring who they aree staying home for and to share it with six friends, using the #IStayHomeFor hashtag. More than 20,000 people have taken up the challenge, including celebs like Elton John, Brandi Carlile and David Beckham. 

McCann is keeping a low profile in terms of its involvement, but it’s understood the agency was behind the idea and reached out to Bacon as an obvious spokesperson for the campaign. 

The actor has already done a slew of interviews about it on news programs and entertainment magazine shows, no doubt helping to spread the word. Check out his Twitter feed here. 

Other agencies of course are also creating campaigns to help curb COVID-19. The U.N. World Health Organization recently tapped WPP to launch a campaign to reinforce the message that washing hands frequently is a must. 

The campaign has been dubbed #SafeHandsChallenge and features celebrities and influencers sharing how they spend time while washing their hands. 

The company’s media arm, GroupM, led an effort involving a number of WPP agencies to bring together media owners, tech platforms, entertainment and influencer companies to amplify the campaign. 

Participating platforms include Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, among others.   

Many people are taking up the challenge, as you can see on Twitter.