Carousing the night away in a nightclub may not be top on the ‘To-Do’ list of many proponents of a good night’s sleep, but for a group of undergraduates, a party at Zouk Nightclub on Feb. 6 presented itself as a unique way to promote their cause.

The event, “Big Bang in My Bedroom,” marked the conclusion of the Simmons Good in Bed campaign, which promoted good sleeping habits through the responsible use of technology.

The three-month long campaign was jointly organized by a group of students from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information as part of their final-year project, and Simmons (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd.

Ho Ying Yi, a final year NTU student who was also an organizer, said that plans for the campaign had been underway since April 2009.

“There were mini-events which were part of the campaign,” said Ho. “These included filming a sleep-themed episode of ‘10 Dares’, competitions relating to this video, parading around in a campaign-decorated car, as well as hanging door hangers on each door of every student hostel in NUS and NTU.”

The highlight of the party was a pillow-jousting competition, aptly called “The Big Bedroom Bustup.” Sporting singlets sponsored by New Urban Male, participants were divided into teams and had to push their opponents off a narrow platform with pillows and a jousting pole. The winning team walked away with a cash prize of $400.
 
Amirudin Jamal, a second-year student from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences said that the attractive prizes on offer had enticed him to take part in the competition.
 
“Even the Simmons pillows which can be won are worth a lot,” he said.

The pillow-jousting concluded with a celebrity round that pitted former Singapore Idol finalist Paul Twohill against Kay Kay, from the reality television show S Factor. With the winner being decided by audience applause, Kay Kay emerged victorious despite being toppled off the platform by Twohill on a couple of occasions.

Speaking about the louder response from the crowd for his opponent, Twohill jokingly said, “Obviously she’ll win. She’s hot and I’ve got no boobs.”

The programme for the night also included quiz sections, a hip hop dance performance, as well as a New Urban Male runway show. All participants also walked away with free goodie bags and ice cream from The Ice Cream Gallery.

Ho said that she was “very happy with the turnout.”

When asked about the organizers’ reasons for choosing the topic of combating bad sleeping habits for their final-year project, NTU student Nur Raihana Razali said, “We chose junk sleep because it is a pressing problem that affects us all but yet has never been covered before.”

“It was something that all of us could relate to.”

According to the campaign website, junk sleep is a “lack of sufficient amounts of quality sleep due to the preoccupation with technology (electronic gadgets).” Studies reported on the website show that “three out of four undergraduates (in Singapore) engage in electronic gadgets right into bed time despite feeling sleepy.”

Janice Jay, a final year student from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, said that she was pleased with the party on the whole.

“This (campaign) is a very good cause that I think is very relevant for university students.”

Jay also said that the good turnout was a reflection of the organizers’ successful efforts to reach out to youths via social media.

“The atmosphere here is very good. I myself found out about the event through Facebook,” said Jay.

Despite acknowledging that the campaign was “good” overall, Twohill disagreed with Jay that the “Big Bang in My Bedroom” event itself was a success. The final year mass communications student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic was of the opinion that many people were in attendance only because tickets were cheap.

“I expected more people at this event,” he said. “But in the end those who came were mostly exchange students who are probably here because it’s only five bucks and they have free entry to the clubs later.”

For more information on the Good in Bed campaign, log on to www.goodinbed.sg.