Cool Tobacco Peeps Publish Nikoteen For Young Hipsters

Kelliher Samets Volk has launched Nikoteen, an online magazine to help the Vermont Department of Health expose the apparently deceptive marketing practices of tobacco companies. Nikoteen mimics popular youth-oriented Web sites for music, celebrities, sports and horoscopes.

The Nikoteen site is accessible via the Web site for Our Voices Xposed. The OVX site includes information on tobacco companies as well as the opportunity to enter OVX Studios where visitors can cast actors, choose scenes and select products to place in their own movies. OVX is a youth-led, youth-run movement in Vermont that is focused on exposing the truth about the deceptive marketing practices of tobacco companies.

Visitors to Nikoteen can get the inside scoop on the spoof band Smoke 'N' Mirrerz, take online polls with questions like "What tobacco product would you totally try?" and find out why Ted McShred rides his snowboard for the Xtreme Tobacco Team. On each page, visitors are also encouraged to "get some real facts on Big Tobacco's involvement" with a link back to www.ovx.org.

In a nod to the current mental state of agency creatives working on the project, Kelliher Samets Volk Associate Creative Director Bill Stowe said, "Creating a site geared towards teens was second nature to the creative team because none of us have matured much since high school." Witty but is that really the way to tout the agency's expertise?

The site is extensive and digs deep into how tobacco companies use music, movies and other media to target young adults. Be sure to check out Linzee Lunghole in the Celebrity section.