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Fake Is Real

“You don't take fentanyl, fentanyl takes you.”

Northampton County (US-PA) fentanyl awareness campaign launched January 31, 2023 as the county's first opioid settlement-funded program, made by Easton agency Kudu. Aimed first at teens and young adults buying counterfeit pills, it runs fakeisreal.org, a Route 22 digital billboard, newspaper and social ads and short videos, and gives out free naloxone, Deterra drug-disposal pouches (mailed to households), lockboxes and teacher lessons.

Years
2023–now
Country
United States
Budget
About $235,000 of settlement money used for the campaign as of mid-2024 (Spotlight PA, 17 June 2024, reporting a pending PA Opioid Trust review). No contract amount found in county records.
Topic
DrugsHarm reductionOpioids
Asks people to
Never startRecognizeStart
Strategy
Fear appealSimple instruction
Channel
Direct mailEventsOutdoorPrintSchoolSocial (paid)Website
Audience
General publicOlder adultsYoung adultsYouth
Teens and young adults (counterfeit pills); businesses asked to stock naloxone; teachers; older adults (medication safety talks at senior centers).

Evidence

Self-reportedUnknown

At the first anniversary (Feb 2024) the county reported more than 1,300 naloxone doses handed out, over 200 people trained, more than 50,000 disposal bags mailed to about a third of residents, and materials sent to more than 130 organizations. Officials pointed to a drop in overdose deaths (state data: 45 in 2023 vs 81 in 2022; incomplete), which is not attributable to the campaign without an evaluation.

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Fake Is Real (campaign site; 'Made in the Wild by Kudu Creative') sponsor
  2. Pennsylvania opioid settlement data: Northampton County remediation program #4 'Fake is Real' reference
  3. Lehigh Valley Public Media: Northampton Co. launches fentanyl awareness campaign against overdose deaths (31 Jan 2023) news · 2023
  4. Lehigh Valley Public Media: 'Fake is Real': Northampton County celebrates a year of saving lives from overdose (1 Feb 2024) news · 2024
  5. Spotlight PA: Drug testing, Philly parks, and other opioid money decisions await final approval in Pennsylvania (17 June 2024) news · 2024
  6. FakeIsReal YouTube channel archive

Research notes

US-PA (Northampton County). Discovered 2026-10-22 for #17 (local campaigns pass; method: settlement-report). Opened 2026-10-22: fakeisreal.org (Kudu credit; site lines 'What's Your Pill Trying to Hide?', 'Real Help Against Fake Pills', 'Reduce the harm. End the use. Grow a community of survivors.'), PA settlement data program #4 (organization 'Northampton SCA'), LVPM launch article (Kudu named, Sarah Clark of Kudu; County Executive Lamont McClure, DHS Director Susan Wandalowski, DA Terry Houck at launch; 'first program funded by' the settlement), LVPM anniversary article, Spotlight PA. Kudu credit comes from the campaign site footer and news, not from a contract record. DA funding (asked about in #17) NOT confirmed: the DA took part in the launch, but no record opened shows DA settlement money paying for the campaign; the DocumentCloud DA report link returns 403. The ~$235,000 figure is Spotlight PA's reading of the PA Opioid Trust review, not a county document. Executions: 8 videos on the FakeIsReal YouTube channel, oEmbed-confirmed; years are upload years. Check the numbers before reuse: overdose death figures differ between the state dataset versions quoted (45 vs 26 in 2023). Reuse terms checked 2026-10-23 by an AI research pass for #47; not yet reviewed by a person.

Record cases/northampton-county-fake-is-real.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign