The Girl Scouts didn’t have to spend anything to get millions of dollars worth of advertising from this year’s Oscars.
The non-profit organization became one of the most highly talked about brands on social media during the awards show after Chris Rock took advantage of his role as the host and asked his largely rich and famous audience to buy Girl Scout cookies—“Alright, Tina Fey, get that money, girl. Charlize Theron, yes. Matt Damon, yes. Leo, you made $30 million, come on!”
He said his daughters complained about not being the top fundraisers in their troop. But not only did their father’s stunt raise $65,000 in cookie sales, it also provided the Girl Scouts with $5.5 million worth of advertising, according to DigiDay. Joyce Julius Associates, a firm that “measures and analyzes all forms of media,” arrived at that number by estimating the monetary value of the exposure from the awards show itself, as well as the abundant media coverage and Oscar recaps that followed.
That number could potentially grow even larger as reporting continues.