I pretty heartily bashed a TV spot from this group called “Secondhand Sally” recently because it was just ridiculously over-exaggerated, dishonest alarmist hysteria. Well, such is not the case with this DVD ad I ran across on a recent DVD I got from NetFlix. This is the commercial they should run on television! It’s great, and it’s not dishonest or stupid or exaggerated: it’s just true; and as such, it’s wonderful. (It’s also clever, which helps too!)
Basically what they do here is show a series of little vignettes mimicking classic cigarette ad campaigns of yesteryear (maybe some of them still exist?), with the Camel camel, and the Marlboro cowboy, and on and on with other things, essentially saying that cigarette ads tell you smoking will make you cool or independent or mature, etc., and then it ends with a man in a wheelchair and an oxygen tank and breathing tube, and then he says it will more likely make you like him. Now that’s a devastating message delivered beautifully and using the old cigarette advertising imagery against the tobacco companies. And because it’s simple, and visually compelling, and honest, it’s a much better commercial than the silly ones that act like one puff of someone’s cigarette will send everyone into paroxysms of coughing fits from which they will need an ambulance and emergency oxygen masks to revive. That ridiculously exaggerated stuff is not effective with the one demographic they are trying to reach: smokers.
From my experience, smokers hate hyped up hysteria and accusatory claptrap. They get bullied to quit all the time anyway, so alarmist exaggerations will only make them angry and rebellious. (They generally take these kinds of pushy ads and warnings as a dare to ramp up their smoking, not a reason to quit.) Just be honest, and try to convince them in a positive way, and it will work much better. And that’s what this DVD ad does so well, especially compared to their horribly dishonest guilt-trip bullying propaganda crap they’re running on TV. They should stop with that losing strategy that’s bound to get them stiff resistance and rebellion from smokers, and switch to this winning strategy of friendly persuasion and clever, slick visual ideas. And it might just work, too.
Here’s the more effective spot from the guys making the ridiculously hysterical ads:
