Smoking may not be as popular as it was, say, 50 years ago, it still has consumed millions -if not billion of people in today's society. As a smoker, I realized that there are not as may smoking promotional campaigns as there are anti-smoking ads in the media. Obviously there are not smoking ads on TV or the radio due to the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, however, plenty of other forms of media make up for that loss like magazines, billboards and the Internet.
Just by flipping through a couple magazines, I could have seen half a dozen smoke related ads that either talked about it or displayed it. The most prominent anti-smoking campaign ads are "Truth." Truth compiled experts to conduct research in the year 2002, that found aproximately 300,000 less youth smokers due to the truth campaign ads. This campaign is not pro-smoker or anti smoker, it is merely trying to expose the general facts that we, the public is blind of. They are focusing on the industries that are manipulating the american public with their products, facts ,a dn advertising.
The Truth campaign offical website includes 218 facts targeting the tobacco industry. It provides games, videos, and dowloads alone with various other applications. When I read about this campaigns, they specifically spoke about how they are not appealing to the older 30+ smoking crowd because they are found to be harder to convince about the facts of smoking than the younger generations.
Truth campaign was founded by the "American Legacy Foundation, which was founded under the terms of the Master Settlement Agreement, between the US tobacco companies and 46 US states and 5 territories. TheTruth.com uses Web, print and television to get its message across." The program was set out to drive a wedge between the tobacco industry and the youth audience by providing an in your face style advertising related to high-technology and edgy humor. Funding has become minimal for the campaign since they recieved their last guaaranteed payment in 2003 for the participating tobacco manufacturers. The foundation is currently facing serious funding problem and is attemping to continue the campaign through contributions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheTruth.com
I have posted one Truth Ad Campign below. It may not be the most effective but it was the most appealing to me besides the neew Shards O'Glass advertisements they have recently came out with. Tell me what you think!
What concerns me is the mixed messages people get about smoking. In a popular magazine recently, there was an article on the ill effects of smoking and reasons to quit. Right in the middle of the magazine was an ad and a coupon for cigarettes. This in itself is an issue. I think the truth is a very effective campaign, but with cigarette manufacturer's having more money, you will truly never be rid of smoking. Sadly, it comes down to who has the most money to counter the other's attacks.
ReplyDeleteEven with the Truth campaign and all the information available, people still continue to smoke and chew.
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