Sedgwick Rd. Playing Hardball

Sedgwick Rd.'s stated goal is to bring about change. It believes it has taken a bold step in that direction with the launch of highly graphic anti-tobacco ads. The campaign, which broke last week, offers some of the more disturbing images seen in anti-smoking ads as the viewer travels inside the human body to survey the damage caused by smoking. It is the Seattle shop's first work for the Washington State Department of Health since it won the account in August. Agency president Jim Walker said the work exemplifies what Sedgwick Rd. has been trying to achieve since changing its name from McCann-Erickson last year. "We're really involved in the things that we believe in, which include some clients that are traditional and some that aren't," he said. "We wanted to create something people could be passionate about."The campaign, which is budgeted at $11 million over two years, targets kids 8-18. It includes TV, radio, outdoor, transit, kiosk and in-theater ads, as well as an online component from Sedgwick Rd. partner Pop Multimedia, Seattle. DOH director of communications Tim Church said teens are a prime target because roughly 90 percent of smokers start before age 19. He also said that 65 kids start smoking each day in Washington state. "If we can keep teens from smoking, they will probably never smoke as adults," said Church. Ads introduce the line, "Tobacco smokes you," which Walker said is meant to convey that using tobacco is "a contest you're going to lose." "There are a lot of campaigns about chemicals or Big Tobacco," Walker said. "We're really looking at tobacco as an antagonist. Even to an 8-year-old, 'Tobacco smokes you' means it will kill you." Two TV spots challenge myths that smoking is relaxing or will make teens appear older. In both, a camera follows cigarette smoke through a body, showing damaged organs. In one, a teenage girl slams down a payphone and lights up as a voice says, "Smoking can really help you relax. Just ask the 430,000 people who die every year of lung cancer, heart disease, stomach cancer, throat cancer and mouth cancer. They're about as relaxed as you can get." The other ad shows a teenage boy smoking in a hallway, as a voiceover talks about how smoking cigarettes ages a body's organs. Both spots close with the line, "It's the truth. It's an outrage."

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Sedgwick Rd. Playing Hardball

Rebecca Flass

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Rebecca Flass