Anti-smoking ad campaign really stinks

[karyn]

from yahoo

LONDON (Reuters) - The new anti-smoking ads from the National Health Service really stink.

Several hundred thousand leaflets are being distributed with the sharp stench of tobacco embedded in them to dissuade teenagers from picking up the cigarette habit. Similar ones are appearing in women's magazines Heat, OK! and Cosmopolitan.

"The research suggests that women of that age are unmoved by messages about health but are much more likely to be moved by issues concerning appearance," said Marc Nohr, managing partner of the independent London agency Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, which created the campaign.

The NHS ads feature an attractive woman, but like the ubiquitous perfume ads, when torn open they emit an odour and suggest the damage done by smoking.

"We think it's the first time the scent strip has been used in this subverted kind of way," Nohr said on Friday.

The stinky ads accompany a broader campaign that plays on young people's concerns about their looks and suggests smoking also can cause wrinkles and discoloured teeth.

"You can do things with direct marketing that only direct marketing can do, like appealing to the senses," Nohr said, "and this is a wonderful example of what you can do with smell."

[Baby_Switchblade]

gee, you woulda thought the ads we see on tv here would dissuade people from taking up smoking, but even pics of dissected human brains with blood clots, and lungs being emptied of tar, don't seem to dissuade people from taking up smoking.
and, that said, i really doubt that the brochure with the smell of tobacco in it is going to dissuade them either.

[badkittyamy]

people do what they want to do and damn the risks, I don't ever see myself sucking on a stick od death lol but if it calms people down whatever whatever as long as they aren't hurting others.

[Baby_Switchblade]

people do what they want to do and damn the risks, I don't ever see myself sucking on a stick od death lol but if it calms people down whatever whatever as long as they aren't hurting others.

zacly. I really don't like smoking (whatever it is), but I'm fine when other people smoke around me. Whatever works for ya.

[VoldtaEngler]

im not sure if i undertand the straegy here... the smell of tobacco to make people avoid them... i dont like the smell of pringles but i eat em. theres a ton of things people dont like the smell of but do/use anyway..
next thing we'll see if ad's use the smell of sex (yes there is one!) to persuade teens from not having it.. eventually they will at some point or the world would die off because they'd be scared because of smells!

[Meester fox]

Crap. I hope they don't use the smell of sex to try and persuade teens. Because I have a hard enough time getting any action as is. But the fact that i (apprently) smell like sex would make it all that much harder!

[vixta]

yeah, they're really appealing to vanity with the new uk anti smoking ads, including one tv commercial where girl and guy see each other, guy goes up to girl and then (shock! horror!) he walks away again because she's a filthy disgusting foul stinky smoker.

never happened to me, and i have the added disadvantage of looking like a moose. i find it pretty amusing that they've banned smoking in my town bus station, fags are evil, but the fumes churned out by a bunch of antiquated buses are fine and dandy. plus the station is open air, and when the buses are constantly late adherence to that rule makes me want to swing for the chavs looking up hopefully when a bus of any route turns the corner, because they always have the same damn conversation afterwards. god, i'm getting tense just thinking about it. where's the lighter?

[hewhoisagod]

I'd laugh my ass off if it actually did the opposite...... sometimes I think those anti smoking ads actually make people want to smoke............. they usually make ME want to smoke.......... of course so did Sin City

[Umbilical Lotus]

Yeah, and these'll really do good for the people trying to quit and avoid cravings.

And y'now, an unsmoked cigarette smells GOOD. Nice herby smell. Once you smoke it it smells like ass, but that generally applies to everything you, oh, put fire to. An unsmoked cigarette smells a hell of a lot better than, say, plastic. A cigarette smells like something you should at least TRY to eat. Eh.

And the gore things worry me. I don't mind graphical advertisements, but for fucks sake some people are going ridiculous. There was one TV ad up here that had a girl gradually get GIANT CANCEROUS SORES all over her face as she smoked. And they were realistic cancerous sores. Skin cancer is not attractive, and there it was. I mean, shit. I spent a solid month absolutely terrified of anything I could perceive as a 'chemical' when I was seven years old because of that one scene in Robocop where the dude gets toxic waste dumped on him and runs around screeching and melting. I had nightmares upon nightmares. Showing prominent images of flowering skin cancer and rotting, blackening teeth in VERY PROMINENT PLACES THAT THE YOUNGINS COULD VERY EASILY SEE just... weirds me. They rail against me because I like to see digital renditions of people vomiting blood when I play video games, but allow that on TV. Weirds me really.