GS&P Gets Smart With Farts Through "Fart Code" App

Advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners has created an app called “Fart Code” and is releasing it on the iTunes store today. No, they have not lost their minds.

The agency’s in-house developers, the GS&P BETA Group, made the app to promote kid’s health and science education. And there’s some smart science behind the gross-out laughs.

Once downloaded, the Fart Code app allows you to scan a bar code on any item in the grocery store. The app determines the actual ingredients in that item, noting any ingredients that are known to cause gas.

An algorithm uses those ingredients to determine the level of toxicity on a “fartometer” and produces the appropriate fart noise and vibration; a rough equivalent of how your digestive system would process the ingredients.

Once created, you can share the fart via text message (complete with fart emoji) and social posts. Friends can then click on a link and hear the fart their friend just, um, passed.

“It’s a fun and engaging way to get kids to think about what they are putting in their bodies,” said Margaret Johnson, executive creative director and partner at GS&P.

Schools across San Francisco have signed on to use the app in their class curricula; national teacher resources are recommending the app to their networks; and parents across America are sure to appreciate that their now kids have something to keep them occupied in the grocery store. 

A BuzzFeed article, “Get Smart from Your Fart: 14 Common Food Ingredients that Make You Gassy,” outlines some of the ingredients used by the app’s algorithm. 

Credits

Creative

Partner, Executive Creative Director: Margaret Johnson

Lead Creative Developer: Chris Allick 

Art Director: Pablo Rochat, Hanna Wittmark

Copywriter: Hanna Wittmark, Mitch Gage

Designer: Pablo Rochat, Chris Welsby

Production

Executive Producer: Margaret Brett Kearns

Interactive Producer: Justin Visser

Account Services

Account Director: Erin Fromherz

Music House: Goodby Silverstein & Partners

Composer: Fabio Benedetto, Evan Schultz

Producer: Luke Dillon

Sound Engineer: Nicholas Dematteo  

Sound Designer: Nicholas Dematteo

Audio Mix: Nicholas Dematteo

Mixer: Nicholas Dematteo