The Fenz "you’re cooked" campaign was launched in December and featured a list of about 30 "recipes to cook if you’re drunk or high" including uncanned beans, you-done udon and a "chugget sandwich".
Its aim was to get a segment of the population labelled disengaged — skewed towards younger, male and living in shared rental accommodation — to stop frying food while intoxicated.
"Cooked" is a colloquial word for intoxication.
Figures obtained by the Otago Daily Times under the Official Information Act show the total spend for the year to June 30 is $862,752.
About $35,000 was spent on TikTok adverts, $20,000 on Facebook and Instagram, $10,000 on Snapchat and $5000 on Twitter.
More content than was required for the initial launch phase was produced, and the excess would be used over the next two years, the response said.
Fenz marketing manager Kelley Toy said unattended cooking was the most common cause of house fires in New Zealand, a-quarter of such blazes starting in the kitchen.
Unattended cooking was the most common cause of injury from house fires, half of fatal house fires involving alcohol or drugs.
While New Zealanders generally understood unattended cooking was high risk, the disengaged segment saw it as considerably less risky and did not see traditional prevention messages as relevant to their personal situations.
"We know that they are going to prepare food at home when they are impaired — our intention is to encourage them to do so safely," Mr Toy said.
Fenz’s fire safety campaigns were evaluated by surveys conducted by Kantar Public and analysis of incident data.
National incident data showed a drop of 7.5% in the number of unattended cooking incidents from January to February, compared to the same period over the past five years.
Survey results from the target demographic showed there had been a 14% drop in leaving stove-top cooking unattended, compared to a targeted 5% drop.
Fenz staff attended several O Week events around the country to meet students, including at the University of Otago. In Dunedin, Wellington City, Palmerston North, Hamilton, Auckland and Christchurch, discounts of $15 were offered for takeaway orders over O week in order to dissuade cooking.
The number of offers redeemed was 172, Mr Toy said.
