ABOUT ADS OF THE WEIRD

With Ads of the Weird, MSNBC.com takes a look at some of the oddest, most eye-catching, controversial and just plain interesting advertising out there today. Primary writer Allison Linn covers the retail and advertising industries for MSNBC.com. The Ads of the Weird team is always interested in hearing what ads have caught your attention, whether it's online, on television or in print.


The truth will set you humming

Posted: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 3:00 AM by Allison Linn
Filed Under: ,

In an age when teens are inundated with images of sex and violence, one has to wonder, is anything shocking anymore?

The makers of the “truth” anti-smoking ads, who for years have been trying to scare would-be smokers straight with startling images such as masses of body bags and people posing as “dead” smokers, think they have hit on something: shocking the kids by not being so shocking at all.

The American Legacy Foundation’s latest anti-smoking campaign juxtaposes joyful cartoon characters and upbeat musical numbers with troubling anecdotes about smoking, in the hopes that a little sardonic humor will keep the attention of famously fickle 12- to 17-year-olds.

Image: stork ad
American Legacy Foundation

In the most recent installment, an announcer informs us that a tobacco executive once remarked, after being told that smoking can lead to underweight babies, that some people might prefer small babies.  At that, the announcer breaks into a banjo ditty, sharing the stage with a cartoon stork and cartoon babies.

In keeping with the campaign’s trademark format, the ad is filmed in a public place, and it frequently cuts to flummoxed bystanders looking on. (In this case, they may be most puzzled because they can’t see the cartoon characters that are integral to the final product.)

The lyrics (“healthy babies are just no fun/eat too much and they weigh a ton”) are catchy but could be wittier. Still, The Disney musical-esque entreaty is so unlike anything viewers are used to seeing in a public service announcement that it just might capture the attention of the target teen demographic.

However, that also could be the campaign’s biggest drawback: The goofy song and characters are cute, but one wonders whether young viewers will be too distracted by cartoon babies and the like to understand the irony, and hear the anti-smoking message in the lyrics.

Also, let’s hope that most people between the ages of 12 and 17 don’t yet have to worry about whether their babies will be normal birth weight, but perhaps that’s an issue for the groups trying to stop teen pregnancy to tackle.

The other ads in the cartoon series include a song-and-dance number about “the magical amount” of nicotine needed to keep smokers addicted, and another that ponders whether the annual worldwide death toll from tobacco, put at 5 million, is a “typo.”

As with previous “truth” ads, the series does a good job of resisting the urge to talk down to kids. Let’s just hope the kids are paying attention.

Click here to see the campaign.

Update: Our colleague Gael Fashingbauer Cooper over at msnbc.com's Test Pattern has launched her annual summer TV Commercial Contest. Click here to help her choose the best and worst ads of the year.

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Comments

This is a great website. Nice way of presenting something that most would normally ignore. Very, very professional! Thanks for having it and please do more!

James Tripp (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:36 AM)

I don't think we need to worry about whether the kids viewing the commercials will miss the message or not.  Any parent with a child that watches the sexual, bizarre, lewd, and/or distracting images on music videos and can then repeat all the lyrics to a song can rest assured that they hear the message.  No sarcasm intended - I'm just saying...

Cris from Arkansas (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:50 AM)

Good stuff! If you treat people like they can think, they just might start thinking! I have to say I like this better the well-intentioned but mis-directed DARE programs that only appeal to School Committee Members and NARCs!

Mick, Boston, MA (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 3:23 PM)

The problem with the Truth Campaign is that it's not really about personal responsiblity, it's about attacking tobacco companies.  Tobacco companies have every right to make a legal product and sell it until the government says otherwise, and if no one bought their products, they would go out of business.  Regardless of how you feel about smoking (I am personally not a fan), the responsibility begins and ends with the decision to smoke by the consumer, not the decision by the manufacturer to offer the product.  Truth misses the mark in this respect...it's about personal responsibility, stupid!

Jon, Louisville Ky (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 4:09 PM)

Actually i am offended by the ad and think it is in poor taste, I am a dad and i have two preemie babies in the hospital for 3 months and it has nothing to do with smoking, my wife saw this ad and became very sad, i dont mind the messsage they are trying to get across, i just dont like their method.

Angel Private, New York NY (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 4:43 PM)

Aren't these ads sponsored by Phillip Morris and other tobacco companies to appease congress?  These ads aren't doing anything to ban smoking, if anything they are furthering it.  Also, as a young adult I can say that when these commercials come on around people of my age, they are generally laughed at and not taken seriously because teenagers are tired of the whole "scared straight" thing.

tim, dallas texas (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 4:56 PM)

No Jon, not when tabacco companies have historically targeted kids with their advertising (remember Joe Camel?)and then adding additional substances to their product (without knowledge of the consumer) which makes their product even more addictive. I'm not sure you can hold children to the same standard of personal responsibilty that you hold an adult.

Niki, Tetonia Idaho (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:21 PM)

These commercials are annoying! How can you get your message across when your target audience has changed the channel?

Max, Seattle (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:29 PM)

I think it's funny how people worry about teens understanding hidden messages and the lyrics. I'm 14, and I understand it fine. We aren't stupid.

Katherine, NJ (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:31 PM)

I am not old enough to have lived through prohibition however I do teach History and The Truth Campaign and those behind it remind me of the same tactics that were used by those that declared that liquor was the root of all of societies evils and that if we just all stopped drinking and the manufacturer of liquor was banned then world peace would reign. In hindsight 20/20 vision we all now how well that turned out. The crime rate increased and organized crime became stronger.  
Now I realize of course that The Truth Campaign is not trying to "ban" tobacco products but it is the  same hysteria techniques that were use in the past.

J.Schonauer (Sent Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:45 PM)

why does ANYONE still smoke?  Seriously is it related to low IQ or something, do you not get it is killing you and maybe your loved ones too.  It tastes gross, smells gross and everyone who you pass by that is not a smoker is repulsed by you because of the smell all over you.  And when a non smoker comes to your house, they can't get out fast enough becuase they are gagging and they have to take a shower to wash off the foul odor from your house.
Seriously THROW OUT THOSE CIGARETTES RIGHT NOW, dump cooking oil on them so you won't be tempted to dig through the trash and smoke em later.  

grossed-out pedestrian (Sent Wednesday, June 11, 2008 7:01 AM)

People know the dangers of smoking, the sugeon general himself puts a warning on every tobacco product that consumers buy. Smoking is a chose and everyone that does smoke makes that descion wisely. People are going to smoke regardless no matter what the consequences. Why arn't there more attacks against drunk driving? 30,ooo people are killed annually by drunk drivers; I'm just saying.

Michael Warner Robins GA. (Sent Wednesday, June 11, 2008 8:15 AM)

Phillip Morris does sponsor its own anti-smoking commercials for youth, but the Truth campaign was created by the American Legacy Foundation, and is the only national anti-tobacco campaign NOT paid for by the tobacco industry: http://www.americanlegacy.org/.  

Also, contrary to popular belief among teenagers & young adults, it is the most successful youth anti-tobacco campaign ever.  Read about the difference in the Truth campaign and Phillip Morris' "Think, Don't Smoke" campaign here: http://www.americanlegacy.org/2170.aspx

To Jon: The idea behind the Truth campaign is to empower young people to make decisions based on facts instead of peer pressure and misleading tobacco ads.  The Truth campaign doesn't lie about what the tobacco companies have done, everything they say is based on facts. Tobacco products are the only legally sold products in the U.S. that kill people when used as directed.

Molly, New Orleans, LA (Sent Wednesday, June 11, 2008 10:06 AM)

This is not hysteria at all. Advertising is an art form. As Niki pointed out, children cannot be held to the same standard of personal responsibility as adults. Why not make "not smoking" just as appealing to children, (through the use of images) as "smoking" is made to seem in media. That way the kids have a real choice. At least they are seeing both sides of the coin. Frankly, it's not crystal clear to me that children make rational decisions, and we don't always know the "trigger" for their actions. At least with these ads, kids can see both sides and beleive me, they get it!

L. Moxley, Scarsdale, NY (Sent Wednesday, June 11, 2008 11:39 AM)

These commercials are ridiculous, amateurish, poorly executed and a total waste of money. Not only are they an utter mishmash that fail to keep the attention of the target audience, there is so much nonsense going on in them that the message is lost. And the focus is silly - does any teen even THINK about underweight babies as a problem?? With teen pregnancy continuing to grow you can't even get them to think about using proper birth control, let alone not to smoke. I know for a fact from my teens and their friends that these commercials make zero impact on them, the only thing they remember is how stupid and bad they are, and as soon as they come on they completely tune them out. Fire the incompetents who've come up with this ad campaign and find real professionals who can actually produce something that may or may not work, but won't be laughed at and ridiculed by the people they're trying to educate.

Thomas Vozza, Tempe, Az (Sent Wednesday, June 11, 2008 12:24 PM)

As a mom myself, I can say that my teenager and her friends have either laughed at this new ad or mute the t.v.  They get what is being said, but think that the commercials that have been shown recently are ridiculous.  I have to agree.  
I think that there must be a better way to get the message across.  Has anyone considered talking to the demographic and finding out what they think would work for their peers?  Usually when you want to sell a product this is what you do in order to promote said product correctly.  It makes sense to me that the same would be true when trying to prevent the use of a product.
But for me the bottom line is that most advertising these days is just plain stupid.  My 10 year old could make better ads than the executives that are making ridiculous amounts of money for crap like this.

Leah, Arlington, Tx (Sent Wednesday, June 11, 2008 3:03 PM)

Every developmental psychology book will illustrate that deep down every child thinks they are special. This creates confidence in one's self and promotes healthy competition. The reality is that no one is special. Also, everyone feels they can control themselves ( all the "healthy" people anyway)

In our brains we have something called MOTOR MIRROR REFLECTORS, they help us to learn by watching and the lessons they facilitate are like concrete. Most of us have an average control over our minds. We see people smoking and they are cool and get all the sex and money and yadada. So we smoke to be cool, to "compete" with our rivals. We're also intensly curious and you know " i'll just smoke a few times to see what it's like"

Fact is, I'm ashamed to live in a country where people are allowed to make profit by selling something that hurts you from the very beginning.

People have the right to hurt themselves if they want to, but no one has the right to make money off it, and to help other industries make money by creating patients. LOOK FOLKS, we are the same species that did all those horrible things to our own kind througout history.

Think of all the land used to grow tobacco that could be used to grow food ( aren't we in a global FOOD crisis ? can you eat tobacco?)

Your Dad, Earth , milky way (Sent Friday, June 13, 2008 1:21 PM)

I'd just like to point out from a teenagers perspective that dancing babies come in second to the sardonic lyrics. We're really not /that/ easily distracted.

Moving on.
I do not believe the message is lost in the 'silly' side of the ads. I believe that as young adults we are capable of understanding the ads just fine.

I also like not being talked down to like many of these 'anti-tobacco' groups do. I have some intelligence, and I would like to be talked to as an equal, and these ads are the closest thing I've seen to that.

I guarantee that if more people talked to their kids as equals smoking among teenagers would drop. (As well as teen pregnancy if that were the issue, I'm very sick of being talked down to about that one.)

Tori, Tampa Florida (Sent Saturday, June 14, 2008 12:21 PM)

To grossed out pedestrian: I'm a smoker and I know it's "killing" me, but it usually takes 40 years or so. I can live with that (no pun inteded). I like the taste and smell of cigarettes. So that's a matter of opinion. Frankly, I don't want people that close to me anyway, so if they're repulsed, it's a benefit to me. Nor do I really want anyone at my house that long, either. But anyone who's coming to my house on a social visit know I smoke already, so if they do come it's their choice. Who am I to deny them freedom of choice? I presume my opinions and tastes are in the minority, though. You're not oppressing a minority are you?

Kelly, Gardena, CA (Sent Sunday, June 15, 2008 11:23 PM)

I've begun smoking increasingly greater quantities of heavier-tar cigarettes in the hopes that I get lung cancer and die.  I like to think of it as passive suicide.  I don't want anyone to find me with my head exploded all over the walls or dangling from a tree.

Nathan, Chicago (Sent Tuesday, June 17, 2008 6:11 PM)

Your personal choice to smoke doesn't just affect you. When you're writhing in pain or doped out on morphine or going through another round of chemo and your loved ones are cleaning up bodily fluids, losing sleep, worried, fearful, grieving, spending money they can't afford on doubtful treatments, paying for health insurance that's inflated to carry your burden, just remember you put them in that position. You and your choice. I'd like to give the corporate execs at Phillip Morris five minutes' worth of time feeling the agony they inflict on others.

Ifsander Butts, Storm Draine, CA (Sent Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:41 PM)

These commercials are insanely irritating. They make me want to smoke more just to spite those sassy teens. Not to mention, the kind of kids who smoke hate the preppy, drama-club types they put in these ads. Were these designed to get kids to light up? I hear teen smoking has gone up in recent years.

Jeremy H., Cleveland, OH (Sent Monday, June 30, 2008 1:26 PM)

AS A TEEN, (emphasis on that point), I think that these commercials are right on in their methods to grabbing the attention of teens. Personally, I find these a lot more affective than, oh, say a sinsister voice stating how many lives lung cancer claims each year. Teens do not speak rational adult language. Rather, we flourish in sarcasm, which, believe it or not, is not going to be lost upon us. The cartoons and cheery jingles only reinforce the sinister sarcasm that we are acutely aware of. And as for the theme of cigarettes causing underweight babies, I don't feel that is too mature of material for us. If you doubt this, show a picture of a baby to any teenage girl, and her emphatic 'oohs' and 'ahhs' will, I'm sure, answere your question.

Elaine E., Appleton WI (Sent Monday, July 07, 2008 2:07 PM)

Truth, yes. I was born in 1960, and weighed 5 pounds when I was born.  Yes, my mom was encouraged to smoke in order to have an easy to deliver, low birth weight baby. Yes, I did start smoking at age 13 because I was already hooked from her second hand smoke.  Yes, I did quit at age 23, and it was the hardest thing I ever did, next to burying my mother a few years later.

Ann from Kutztown, PA (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:39 AM)

personally i smoked in high school and put it down didn't smoke for nine years.  Picked it up when my wife left as i was hanging out w/friends who did. smoked for a year and just put it down again. That was 6 years ago.  Never have cravings it never bothered me to go without.  My step mom can't give it up I wish she could but she can't.  She has tried so many times and has failed.  I realize I one of the lucky ones that Nicotine doesn't effect.  I don't want my kids to smoke and I talk to them about it.  I try to give them the emotion the truth and show them things that are close to the home and heart that will make an impact.  My 14 year old looked up the the info on line and even found the numbers on line with were they were getting them.  Just for the record not every one who smokes gets cancer.  My Grandfather smoked most of his life and he died of alzheimer's.  Actually he was made to quit by his physician and then he started going down hill.  What is the kicker in all this is there is evidence, which they are now doing a study on, nicotine, slows down the onset of alzheimer's.  Do I smoke. No will i tell someone else they cannot smoke no.  I don't want the government telling me I can't eat or drink something cause cause it may or may not give me cancer.  I have enough trouble with the government telling me I can't get married to the person I love.

Nick Weaver, Greensboro,nc (Sent Wednesday, July 16, 2008 12:04 AM)

These anti-smoking ads drive me crazy.  Let me first say a.) I have never smoked, and  b.) My grandfather died of lung cancer from 50 years of smoking.

That being said - to me, this is a scare campaign, no matter how they market it.  In the end, YOU are the one who chooses or chooses not to pick up the ciggarette.  The warning is clearly marked on the side, it's enough to leave it at that.  

I have faith that teens are smart enough not to need cartoon characters and catchy jingles to understand the concept.  Spend the money elsewhere, donate it to inner city schools and education systems, if you really want to make a difference in the lives of youth.

Alicia, Walworth, WI (Sent Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:25 PM)

Everything I've ever needed to know about how to use drugs, where to get them, and what the pschotropic effects are I learned from the wonderful school program of DARE. Being a life long athlete, and even a professional one for a while I can appreciate the efforts by this organization to put forward ads that don't just demonize, but however turn a simple 'reality' upon products with a negative influence on our bodies and lifestyles. Thank you, keep trying, children will always listen, some will respond, some will rebel, it is human nature.

Alexander Herring, Houston, TX 24 (Sent Tuesday, July 22, 2008 3:02 PM)

It's called "addiction" grossed-out pedestrian.

ME!! (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:23 AM)

these ads are a useless waste of money.  when they come on i surely change the channel.

why focus on any one substance as they are really not the cause of the problem.   the problem is the "victim" attitude that blames the substance for what actually was a personal choice and lack of self control.  

we live in an excessive environment.   If ads promoted MODERATION in all things we would be better for it.    

ANYTHING can kill you in the proper dose.   Someone died from drinking too much water in a radio contest.  Food kills more people everyday!    

I hope I haven't given any ideas to the attorneys out there.   but you can't sue God for making and offering the food and water.

and then there is the legal addictions which are poffered on the public each evening:   "ask your doctor if levitra is right for you"?????"serious side effect including death may occur"!!!!
If you tell your doctor you are un happy it's straight to the antideppressant zombie train for you.

It's all so hypocritical.

greg, pinecrest fl (Sent Friday, July 25, 2008 1:50 PM)

I personally LOVE these ads.

They're so much different than what I've grown up with in regardds to anti-tobacco advertisements. I mean sure, the scare tactics get your attention, but honestly, why not make it more fun?

Rachel, Eau Claire, wi (Sent Tuesday, July 29, 2008 1:25 PM)

Go ahead and blast off another no-smoking campaign.
Go ahead and make them $20 a pack. I'd much rather be on a crowded interstate with someone smoking a cig than with someone with a buzz from a $4.00 bourbon.
But how often do they raise alchol prices??? How about a commercial with kids being ran over by a drunk driver after leaving happy hour !!!

Deb (Sent Wednesday, July 30, 2008 10:45 AM)

I have seen most of all the adds that TRUTH has presented and yes it has an effect on NON-SMOKERS, but to me as a smoker, I pay no attention to it at all. People die wether they smoke or not, I know many people that have cancer and never had they smoked in their life. Way before I started smoking I had 2 premature babies, one 3 months early at 2lbs 2oz. I can guarantee you that it had nothing to do with smoking because now they are 5 and 4, and I just started smoking 2 years ago.

Lola, Whiting IN (Sent Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:58 PM)

I'm so tired of hearing that "i'm addicted" excuse. Both of my parents smoke and they have my entire life. If you know you're addicted, why don't you try to get help? Should alcoholics not get help simply because they're addicted?
When my brother and I were in middle school people used to ask us if we smoked. Because we always smelled like it. Not because we chose to. Simply because we were around it. It not only effects you. I'm constantly talking to my parents about quiting. Nothing would make me happier. Not only because I hate it. I would like for them to stick around as long as possible. It may be hard to quit...but it's not impossible. Don't give up is all I'm saying.

Stephanie, Seattle, WA (Sent Wednesday, July 30, 2008 3:26 PM)

In college I took an online health class to satisfy a requirement. One of the state goals was to encourage our fellow classmates to quit smoking. We posted facts and tips and encouraging messages. The result? The smokers said they knew the facts but didn't care. There's more to this than can fit here but since then I have no positive feelings for smokers. They're killing themselves and murdering those around them and they don't care. I don't see why they don't put a bullet in their mouth to get it over with but I have no compassion for them, only hatred. I don't care if they are insulted by my opinions because I am insulted by their decisions impacting my life.

kjg (Sent Wednesday, August 27, 2008 11:52 AM)

The difference between drinking and smoking is your body comes with an organ that filters out alcohol and your body can repair itself. Your body has no defense against cig's. I can't get drunk from being around a drinker, I can get sick from around a smoker.

yt (Sent Wednesday, August 27, 2008 11:56 AM)



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