December 23, 2016 - 11:13 AMT
Fox unveils marketing campaign for “The Mick” comedy series

Fox unveiled a brash new marketing campaign for its upcoming comedy series “The Mick” on Thursday, December 22, according to Variety.

Built around the social-media hashtag #KidsAreDicks, the campaign aims to encourage would-be viewers to share their most horrific parenting stories. “The Mick” stars Kaitlin Olson as Mickey, an ill-mannered woman who is stuck caring for her niece and two nephews after her sister and brother-in-law flee the country.

“In the social universe of today where from the outside, everything can look glossy, picture perfect and surgically curated, we all really embraced Aunt Mickey’s style of just telling it like it is,” said Angela Courtin, chief marketing officer for Fox Broadcasting. “So instead of those glowing ‘my child is a straight A student’-style bumper stickers, we instead thought ‘Kids Are Dicks’ was reflective of the way things can unfold when keeping it real. And by telling it like it is, and in her own way, Aunt Mickey is actually “winning” at parenting. It’s a point of entry that is relatable in this day and age.”

The campaign encourages people to tweet their most horrific parenting stories under the #KidsAreDicks hashtag. It also includes a series of videos, the first of which was released Thursday, that feature Olson’s character meeting with marketing executives about the campaign for her show, and blowing them off in favor of the improvised #KidsAreDicks.

“We like to keep the narrative and personalities of our various characters alive through digital extensions,” Courtin said. “When we find that we are true to the characters, their voice and tone throughout a campaign, it strikes a chord with our audience. The authenticity of Kaitlin’s character lends itself nicely to social, and our head of social content marketing, Megan Wahtera, and her team did a great job capturing the essence of Mickey.”

The campaign, developed with advertising agency 360i, will see tweets featuring the hashtag displayed on a billboard in New York’s Times Square, and will culminate in a Snapcash money giveaway pegged to the series’ Jan. 1 premiere.