TikTok turns to nuns, military veterans in marketing blitz

Ads part of campaign to reshape perception of company amid intense scrutiny in Washington

- 

In a television commercial, Sister Monica Clare, a nun in northern New Jersey, walks through a church that is bathed in sunlight and sits in a pew, crossing herself. Her message: TikTok is a force for good.

"Because of TikTok, I've created a community where people can feel safe asking questions about spirituality," she says in the advertisement.

Sister Clare is one of several fans of Tik Tok - along with drawling ranchers, a navy veteran known as Patriotic Kenny, and entrepreneurs whom the firm is highlighting in commercials as it faces in tense scrutiny in Washington.

"TikTok definitely has a branding issue in the United States," Sister Clare, 58, said in an interview.

"Most people you talk to, especially people above the age of 60, will say that TikTok is just a bunch of superficial garbage. They don't use it. They don't understand what the content is.

"It's very smart of TikTok to say, 'No, that's not what we are - we're a lot more than that.'" 

That seems to be the idea driving TikTok's multimillion-dollar marketing blitz on TV and rival social media platforms nationwide tagged #KeepTikTok - as the Senate considers a Bill that would force the company's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the app or have it face a national ban. Many lawmakers from both parties have said the app could endanger American users' private data or be used as a Chinese propaganda tool.

Since the House voted in favour of the Bill on March 13, the company has spent at least US$3.1 million (S$4.2 million) on advertising time for commercials that are scheduled to run in April, according to data from AdImpact, a media tracking company.