A viral police officer video involving a donut-themed campaign has resurfaced on social media.
A viral video about two central Iowa police departments’ outreach campaign continues to make the rounds on various social media platforms. According to 13 Now News, the campaign featured a stereotypical police officer treat – the donut.
In the spring 2017 video, Eric Snyder, the community resource officer for the Ames Police Department, noted, “Spring is always a time about new beginnings. The message this year is respect.”
With the Iowa State University Police department and the Ames Police Department working together, the two focused on “bringing people back together.”
“Respect is a very basic message anytime you want to do it. Respect is crosscultural.”
The question most people had about this outreach campaign was simple – why did they use donuts?
Those who follow the Ames Police Department on social media know they posted an April Fool’s Day video as part of their Quick Tip series. The videos within the series were just 30-second clips intended to offer information to the people of Iowa. According to Snyder, the 30-second clips from the series resonated so well with people, they decided to go back to this method of creating and publishing videos for the new campaign, as well.
According to the Des Moines Register, the April Fool’s video brought in over 7,000 views. At the time, the Ames Police Department averaged anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 views per video. The donut video acquired nearly 400,000 views in 48 hours. As of today, the viral donut video accumulated just shy of 1 million views. This makes it one of the most viewed videos on the police department’s social media page.
The video features a pair of police officers snacking on donuts while talking about the outreach campaign.
The video features Snyder and ISU Police Officer Anthony Greiter. The two officers sit at a table and enjoy donuts the entire time they discuss the campaign. In fact, both officers have mouthfuls of donuts every time they spoke.
“Watch social media for events as they pop up the rest of the month to get free donuts from the police.”
The catch required to get the donuts was simple – “donut” disrespect or hate.
“All we ask is that you donut disrespect, donut discriminate, donut harass, and donut hate.”
For the most part, the 500 comments on the video continue a combination of wit, humor, and support.
“Wow, and are they diabetic safe…? Or, is this just a sting operation that you’ve set up with my physician…?”
Another commenter asked if someone could return to Iowa simply for the free donuts. The Ames Police Department responded to the comment, saying the free donuts were for everyone who wasn’t hateful or disrespectful.
Some of the comments joked about the officers talking with their mouths full of donut. One even asked whether either of the officers in the video were single.
The police department found the popularity of the video surprising.
Snyder admitted he wanted people to respond positively to the donut video, but found the video going viral surprising. As a response to the popularity of the video, the police department also released a second video having outtakes and bloopers. This video quickly accumulated tons of views, shares, and comments, as well.
The Ames Police Department even posted a picture of the “donutmobile” for the campaign on Twitter.
Due to the popularity of the campaign, the police departments are at it again this fall.
Officers gave away donuts and “Donut Disrespect” T-shirts to students before a recent football game and have released a new donut-themed video.
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Spring Campaign 2017 Launch #2
Posted by Ames Police Department on Monday, April 17, 2017
