Truth Campaign Newsflash: Teens Like Sweet Products!

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Continuing their idiotic approach to anti-smoking, the TRUTH campaign is out with yet another off the wall commercial featuring the hairstyle-challenged Derek. In this spot, Derek tries to sell cigarette "flavors" to kids basing the whole shtick on the most ancient cigarette company document they've used to date, a 1972 internal document that stated "it's a well known fact that teenagers like sweet products" as if that statement were some sort of revelation. Can we please retire Derek and this idiocy and get back to some of the better stuff we know this campaign is capable of?

by Steve Hall    Aug- 2-06   Click to Comment   
Topic: Campaigns, Commercials, Worst   

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Comments



Comments

Whdfxup? The sleeping one is the most idiotic one I've seen on TV. They used to have some decent ideas, with the body bags and such.

Posted by: pat smith on August 2, 2006 3:01 PM

I'll smoke to that.

Light, anyone?

Posted by: Jetpacks on August 2, 2006 4:23 PM

I HATE THIS GUY!

I have two smokes every time i see one of these stupid commercials.

Posted by: 12345 on August 2, 2006 6:39 PM

I HATE THIS GUY!

I have two smokes every time i see one of these stupid commercials.

Posted by: 12345 on August 2, 2006 6:40 PM

Please do have two smokes everytime you see one of these commercials, and then post about it twice too, 12345X2.

Actually, these spots run in tandem with the others, so it's not a one-or-the-other kind of a situation. I think the bed one works really well, but the sweets one, however true it is and however much the tobacco assholes still believe in selling smokes to kids, the source doc is still a little too old, and you don't want people to begin to think of the anti-cigarette movement as irrelevant.

Posted by: tom on August 2, 2006 8:41 PM

I actually like the new ones that they've come out with, I was getting a little tired of the big city street approach. The M&M and jogging one makes a good point imo - it's on loop right now on MTV.

Posted by: Laura on August 3, 2006 9:56 AM

I'm so friggin' tired of all the anti-smoking campaigns. And I don't even smoke.

Every time I see one of those TRUTH commercials with their pseudo neo-amateur-youth-hipsterism, I feel like buying a case of cigarettes for myself and one for the 10-year old kid playing video games at the mini-mart, and filming the whole thing and sending it to the "TRUTH" marketing retards.

Posted by: Roy on August 3, 2006 2:52 PM

The original doc may be from 1972, but the flavors touted in this ad were launched in 2004, defying the 1998 legal settlement to stop targeting youth. This ad could have been more effective if they had inlcuded that tidbit.

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/targeting/

Posted by: Robin Zaleski on August 4, 2006 1:23 PM

Arnold or Crispin?

Posted by: Dustin K on August 4, 2006 7:43 PM

While obviously people have varying opinions on the effectiveness of the campaign, I actually think it's a good approach. Even if the documents are from the '70s and '80s as Robin said they are very relevent today given the continued tactics of big tobacco.

The quotes they use from tobacco executives are truly asinine and really do make you say whudafxup? Hey if the truth ads prevent more kids from smoking I'm all for it.

Posted by: Brad on August 5, 2006 3:39 PM