The best part is that people welcome both these campaigns with an open mind. Hence, you find as many campaigns against smoking as you find cigarette ads. This is not a new phenomenon at all. There have been anti-tobacco campaigns right since the time cigarette ads made their presence felt. Let us look at some of the most meaningful anti-smoking commercials of all time.
1. Chair: The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation
This is one of most telling campaigns launched against the ill effects of passive smoking. The campaign shows a Photo-shopped image of a child hold a cigarette in her hands. What is intriguing about this image is that the hands belong to an adult. This is a beautiful way of stating that smoking by adults can harm children as well.
2. 42: Nicotinell
This advertisement was released on No Tobacco day. This should rank as one of the best anti-smoking ads of all time. It shows a young woman of 42 years celebrating his birthday. What is pertinent in the campaign is that he looks as if he is 84 years old. That is the effect smoking can have on your life. It is a classic case of premature aging.
3. Suicide: National Anti-Drug Agency
Released in 2008, bold advertisement of a man showing ‘hanging’ from his cigarette did not go well with many people. However, it is an unpalatable truth that smoking cigarettes is equal to committing suicide. This is one of the best ads against smoking.
4. Twin Towers Smoking: ASH
This advertisement might have hurt the sentiments of the people who have lost their near and dear ones to the dastardly act of terrorism on 11th September 2001. However, the message depicted by this ad is very clear, but disturbing. It says that the world has seen 11,337 terrorism related deaths since the fateful day in 2001. The number of tobacco-related deaths stood at 30,000,000. That does not make terrorism a smaller evil. It drives home the fact that tobacco is a greater evil against which we have to fight united. This should definitely rank as one of best quit smoking ads.
5. For More Information on Lung Cancer, Keep Smoking: The Lung Association
This should win the prize for being the smallest every advertisement campaign in terms of words used. However, the message is loud and clear. This is the perfect case of hitting the nail on the head. Just two words, ‘Keep Smoking’, say it all. This should rank as one of the most telling anti-smoking ads for youth because they are the ones who are most affected. This is also because people with lung cancer can never become old. They die young.
6. Smokers make Poor Swimmers: ASH
One of the few anti-smoking ads that pass on a dual message linking smoking with infertility. All the while, smoking has been linked to manliness. This ad debunks this theory with a straight face stating that the best and most durable swimmers in the world (the human sperm) do not stand a chance when you smoke.
7. Hole: The Lung Association
Smoking is an addiction. In order to make people quit smoking, you have to hit them hard exactly where it hurts them. This advertisement of a man with a hole in his neck should startle the smokers out of their slumber that this fate could one day befall them as well. Many smokers consider this to be one of the most cringing quit smoking ads in the industry.
8. Would You Drink It? Public Interest Ad in Ahlan Magazine
This advertisement shows a bottle of clean water with a surgeon’s general warning, “Drinking this water can cause lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, and complicate pregnancy.” Would you drink it? No sane person in the world will ever dream of doing so. However, the same people do not think twice before reaching out for the small white tube-like thing that emits smoke of the most poisonous kind.
9. Smoking Kid: Thai Health Promotion Board
This is one of the most telling anti-smoking commercials ever made. Two children approach various smokers and request them to lend them a light. Everyone refuses them stating that smoking is bad. The dejected children hand them a brochure before walking away. The message on the brochure says it all. “You worry about me, but why not worry about yourself?”
Final thought:
When you ask a smoker, “What pleasure do you get when you smoke”, the usual answer is “You will know only when you smoke.” An answer that makes many people take up the habit of smoking. However, people have realized the ill effects of smoking, thanks to the countless anti-smoking ads and campaigns against smoking. There is a trend among people not only to quit smoking but also ensuring others do it as well. This is an encouraging sign.Try the all new KWIK MINT.
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