Cigarettes and Bodily Waste: The Ugly Truth

By Jordan Teicher 

Lately, there’s a lot of content to cover on the bathroom humor beat. Yesterday, we reviewed some poop comedy for the new Clorox campaign. Today, we have a 30-second spot titled “Poop vs. Pee” from Arnold Worldwide and truth, the anti-smoking organization. This ad takes a radical shift in tone from meaningless poop jokes. There may be some uncomfortable chuckling here, but the point is to make the viewer aware of two facts: methane, a chemical in dog poop, can be found in cigarette smoke; urea, a chemical in cat pee, is also used in cigarettes. As you’ll see in the clip, there are some silly sound effects and visual representations to make it obvious that bodily excrement is gross, and in turn, chemicals found in our waste shouldn’t be voluntarily inhaled.

On truth’s website, you can read about their strategy for raising awareness, which is echoed in the commercial. They don’t tell people to stop smoking, because that sort of pitch doesn’t work on little children, let alone addicted smokers. So, to get the point across, they appeal to their target audience with alternative methods, such as disgusting facts. Stripping away moralistic lecturing in favor of poop jokes might just be bizarre enough to catch someone’s attention. Credits after the jump.

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Chief Creative Officer: Pete Favat

Creative Director: John Kearse, Meg Siegal

Art Director: James Stone

Copywriter: Brett Reese

Producer: Kevin Shale, Carron Pedonti

Assistant Producer: Tia Demelis, Ben Ouellette

Business Affairs: Maria Rougvie

Planner: Kelleen Peckham

Strategy:  Gabrielle Rossetti

 

Marketing Producers: Paul Nelson, Tia Phillips, Raquel DaSilva

 

Production Company: Smuggler

Director: Henry-Alex Rubin

Editorial Company: Union

Editor: Lawrence Young

Sound Designer: Mike Secher

Music Recording: Artist: Mike Secher

Sound Engineer: Mike Secher

VFX: Brickyard

 

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