Viacom Brands Win Five 2018 Cynopsis Social Good Awards

Viacom won five 2018 Cynopsis Social Good Awards for its civic-minded media focused on LGBT advocacy, disaster relief, and anti-bullying action, among other issues. Read about each campaign below.

Awareness Campaign/Initiative – Children’s Sector

Nickelodeon Creative Advertising – Nick SPLAT – Truth – Trivia

Cynopsis recognized Nickelodeon for Nick SPLAT Trivia, a partnership between the kids entertainment brand and nationally renowned smoking prevention organization Truth. Nick SPLAT Trivia, a lighthearted PSA in the form of a game show (complete with old-school 90s Nick graphics), educates young viewers on the ugly truth behind big tobacco.

Truth’s initiative is to get the millennial generation to take a stand against big tobacco and their profiling by using the Nick splat voice and audience.

Branded Campaign for a Digital, Broadcast or Cable TV Series

Comedy Central/Viacom Velocity – The Daily Show & Truth: Go Away Big Tobacco

On the adult front, Comedy Central’s late-night sensation The Daily Show With Trevor Noah aired a PSA, produced by Viacom’s in-house design agency, Velocity, illuminating the facts about big tobacco.

Awareness Campaign/Initiative – Human Rights

MTV – #EyesOnChechnya – Awareness Campaign/Initiative – Human Rights

MTV earned the Awareness Campaign/Initiative honor, for its social media campaign #EyesOnChechnya, a multifacteted marketing crusade that shed light on the horrific treatment of LGBT citizens in Chechnya, part of Russia. In Chechnya, gay and bisexual men are persecuted – rounded up and tortured for their sexuality. MTV is preventing the world from looking away while these atrocities continue. (You can visit the website  to learn more and take action).

Episode with a Social Good Theme

MTV – MTV’s Total Request Live (TRL): Puerto Rico Episode

MTV closed out the first season of its TRL relaunch by giving back to Puerto Rico, the U.S. island territory devastated by the 2017 hurricane season. Celebs of Puerto Rican heritage, including Jennifer Lopez, NFL star Victor Cruz, former MTV veejay La La Anthony, supermodel Joan Smalls, singer Romeo Santos and more turned out and turned up for good.

Social Good Partnership – National/International

Viacom – Viacommunity & Catchafire: Viacom’s Talent for Good

Finally, Cynopsis recognized Viacom’s Talent for Good corporate social responsibility partnership with nonprofit organization Catchafire, for helping connect star employees with folks in need of their service.

Congratulations to Viacom and its brands for entertaining, educating and giving back to its audiences—and the world at large. Click here to see the full list of nominees and honorees, including other Viacom contenders.

About Viacom

Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling entertainment content - including television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, games, consumer products, podcasts, live events and social media experiences - for audiences in 183 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, VH1, TV Land, CMT, Logo, Channel 5 (UK), Telefe (Argentina), Colors (India) and Paramount Channel, reach approximately 4.3 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. Paramount Television develops, finances and produces original programming for television and digital platforms. 

For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/viacom