In the TikTok, Jackson sports an outfit similar to the one she wore 16 years ago at age 5.
When she was 5 years old in 2008, Disney actress Skai Jackson starred in her first Band-Aid TV commercial. Now 21, she’s back in a Band-Aid campaign—but this time, on an even smaller screen.
Jackson, who is perhaps most well-known for her role as Zuri on the Disney Channel TV show “Jessie,” today posted a TikTok for her 22 million followers of herself singing the Band-Aid jingle, “I am stuck on Band-Aid brand ‘cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me,” which she once sang in a TV ad.
In the TikTok, Jackson sports a similar outfit to the one she wore 16 years ago on the TV spot. She even put her hair in pigtails, the same hairstyle she had in the old ad. At the end of the TikTok, a still of an adorable Jackson in the original TV ad (below) appears on the screen.
“She’s got some star power for us,” Kamran Shahzad, head of U.S. wound care at Band-Aid parent company Kenvue, said of Jackson. The TikTok, he said, is really about “reaching the new, younger consumers, especially Gen Z.” Band-Aid chose Jackson for the campaign not only because of her strong Gen Z presence on TikTok, a platform that’s popular with younger consumers, but also because she was part of the jingle’s early success," Shahzad said
Other, newer adhesive bandage brands are fairly active on TikTok as well—which could be part of the reason Band-Aid is leaning into the platform. Despite not being a household name like Band-Aid, bandage company Welly has a relatively similar number of followers on the social media app: @bandaidbrand_us has roughly 12,400 TikTok followers as of this writing, @getwelly isn’t far behind, with approximately 11,200 followers on the platform, which is in danger of being banned in the U.S.
Although Kenvue did not break out sales for Band-Aid in its fourth-quarter earnings report, it listed it as one of its 15 “priority brands,” along with products such as Tylenol, Motrin and Listerine. In an aim to “reach more consumers” the company will put a “stronger focus” on the 15 brands, CEO Thibaut Mongon said during an earnings call.
Retail sales for first aid adhesive bandages have been on the rise in the U.S. In the 52 weeks ending on March 24, 2024, sales totaled $733 million at grocery, drug, mass market, convenience, military and select club and dollar retailers, according to Circana, a Chicago-based market research firm. That’s up 5.1% from the year ending Dec. 31, 2023, when sales totaled $728 million. And that year’s sales were up 4.8% from 2022 when sales totaled $695 million.
The Band-Aid campaign comes just a few weeks after the release of a report that from an independent lab that found organic fluorine—which studies say can indicate the presence of “forever chemicals,” which can be toxic—in Band-Aid and other adhesive bandage brand products. The report was commissioned by Environmental Health News and consumer watchdog Mamavation. “The health and safety of the people who use our products is our top priority. We are reviewing the conclusions outlined in the report and committed to using our science to ensure our products have the best quality ingredients,” a Kenvue spokesperson told Ad Age.
The TikTok campaign—which will include posts from up to 30 other influencers in the coming days—is among the steps Band-Aid is taking with its new campaign to court Gen Z. “We’re evolving our marketing approach to ensure that we're prioritizing innovative platforms, [and] TikTok is on top of our list because [it’s] where the newer younger audiences look to engage with different brands,” Shahzad said.
The jingle, he continued, is “one of the most iconic” brand assets Band-Aid has at its disposal, and with the 50th anniversary of the jingle coming up, it felt like a good time to get a little nostalgic.
Created with Band-Aid’s creative agency of record Deutsch, the new campaign also includes paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, and other digital platforms that have the jingle playing in the background. These ads started rolling out a few weeks ago, according to Shahzad.
The brand did not disclose media spending on the campaign but referred to it as Band-Aid’s biggest campaign in years. In 2023, Band-Aid’s U.S. measured media spend totaled $31,000, according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics. The year before, it was $781,000.
The jingle made its TV ad debut in 1975—the original song was written by Barry Manilow for an ad starring John Travolta.
The jingle went on to win a Clio for Young & Rubicam 1976, a Kenvue spokesperson confirmed. (Kenvue formed as a new public company in 2023, spinning off from J&J.)
Nostalgic jingles are coming back into fashion again, according to Pete Carter, founder and CEO at Creative Haystack, who recently worked on a jingle for the brand Dude Wipes that is a throwback to cheesy consumer packaged good spots from the ’80s. Other brands reviving old jingles include Burger King.
Carter in an interview this week said that while the Band-Aid campaign seems like a nostalgia play, brands should remember that celebrities aren’t ads in and of themselves. “I'm not a big believer in identity advertising,” he said, noting that sticking a popular Gen Zer in an ad won’t necessarily appeal to a Gen Z audience. “That's not what I have found to be what works,” he said.
As a result, Carter said, he wonders if the Jackson TikTok “really has applicability to the audience that they’re hoping it will have applicability to.”
