LOS ANGELES Interpublic Group’s Sedgwick Rd. has created its fifth anti-smoking campaign for the Washington State Department of Health, this one targeting kids between the ages of 9 and 14, the agency said.
Centered around its “Tobacco smokes you” tagline, the campaign is composed of both traditional and grass-roots components. Radio, billboard, transit, in-school and skate-park signage will launch the first week of October, said a representative for the Seattle shop. A pair of television commercials broke statewide on Sept. 6.
“In the past, everyone’s been focused on the same kind of message: smoking is bad,” said Sedgwick Rd. president Jim Walker, who crafted the work with agency creative directors Zach Hitner and Forrest Healy. This campaign puts kids in different environments to drive home the point that one of them is going to die—that smoking is random, you can’t predict who it’s going to affect.”
One of the 30-second TV spots, “Sinking Ship,” shows three young teens trapped in a damaged canoe stocked with only two life jackets. Tarot-inspired cards and banners depict images such as “the fool, death and doom,” and temporary tattoos feature the campaign tag surrounded by flames. Billboards picture two kids smoking beside a fresh grave.
The media buy extends through June 2005, and includes placement in markets across each of Washington’s 39 counties, a rep said. Radio ads will run on pop, hip-hop and alternative-music stations, and online work will appear on the teen-centric sites Burst.com, KidzWorld.com, Yahooligans.com and 10 others.
“This campaign is aimed at younger kids, to get them before they’re thinking about their first smoke,” explained Walker. He added that it is intended to complement the American Legacy Foundation’s national anti-smoking effort directed at teens 15 to 19, “Crazyworld,” a joint production of Havas’ Arnold, Boston, and MDC Partners’ Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami.
According to Sedgwick Rd., Washington state spends about $29.4 million annually on anti-smoking advertising, which consists of three equally budgeted campaigns addressing youth prevention, adult cessation and second-hand smoke danger awareness.
Sedgwick Rd. 'Smokes' Kids in Washington
