Back To truth News Releases
The “Sunny Side” of Spring for truth®
5/5/2008
New Television Spot Rolls Out, Along with Facebook Applications, Blog, Games, Cinema Ads
Washington, DC, May 05, 2008 – Throughout the month of April and May, new elements from the truth® youth smoking prevention campaign will roll out online, on television, and in movie theaters. The latest truth® campaign, called the “Sunny Side of truth® ”, launched in January 2008; the campaign aims to shine a light on some of the activities of Big Tobacco and the health consequences of tobacco use by satirically pointing out some of the “hidden positives” associated with tobacco.
“We know that today’s media-savvy teens look to TV, the Internet and popular entertainment to keep up with friends and get their daily information,” remarked Cheryl G. Healton, Dr. P.H., president and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation®. “With our current campaign out in the field all the way through October, we are seeking to stay fresh and relevant in teens’ lives by rolling out new elements in a variety of media channels – all designed to inform and entertain teens around the serious issue of tobacco use.”
The most recent television spot, called “Stork,” takes an ironic look at a statement made by one tobacco company executive who, when reminded that smoking cigarettes during pregnancy can lead to low birth weight, said “. . .some women would prefer smaller babies.” The spot opens with two teens wheeling incubators down a city street and discussing this statement. Suddenly, a cartoon stork appears, agreeing that smaller babies would make his life easier. As in the previous Sunny Side television spots, the teens, the stork, and other cartoon characters break into a supersarcastic, sickly sweet song and dance routine, ridiculing this “hidden positive” to smoking cigarettes. Stork will run in :30 and :60 versions from May through August of 2008.
Meanwhile, the first Sunny Side television ad, “Magical Amount”, will move to the big screen from April to May, running prior to popular movies in more than 2300 theaters in all 50 states across the country. Research has shown that 38 percent of youth smoking initiation can be tied to exposure to smoking in movies. Going to the movies is a popular form of entertainment for teens, so having the truth® campaign in cinemas is a great way to capture teens’ attention about the serious public health issue of smoking. To coincide with the cinema advertising, truth® will also run banner ads on the popular Web site Flixster, an online community of predominantly young movie fans.
From the wide screen to the World Wide Web, http://www.thetruth.com/ will add new online elements in April and May in the forms of a “character blog” from the animated characters that appear in truth® television spots, as well as a new game. In the Sunny Side Blog, the fantastical cartoon characters from the television ads will share their experiences as they go “on tour” to places that relate to facts about Big Tobacco, like a town with a population of 1200, the number of people who die every day from tobacco-related illnesses.
Applesauce Hop will be added to the game carousel on thetruth.com, and lets users experience a “deadly” substance: applesauce. Playing off the darkly humorous tone of the Sunny Side campaign, the game points out how a tobacco executive once suggested that eating too much applesauce could be as harmful as smoking cigarettes. Similar to the classic arcade game Frogger, players must navigate a river of deadly applesauce by jumping from one row of canoes and apples to the next to reach the safety of shore. Once they register, a leader board tracks their progress in the game. Gaming remains a very effective way for truth® to engage and educate the teen audience. The Key-tar slayer game launched on the truth® Web site in January and has proven to be a very popular draw for visitors to the site.
Also online, two new Facebook applications will give teens the chance to spread and extend truth® messages. The first feature is an application that challenges users to a game of "Truth or Dare." Based on the young adult party game of the same name, truth® gives Facebook users the option to challenge their friends to either answer a question about themselves, or work some slight mischief on the social networking site. Each challenge completed, whether truth or dare, carries with it a wager amount, giving users the chance to earn points and move up on the Truth or Dare "leader board" that will track scores among the user's friends, any networks they are part of, and all Facebook users. The Truth or Dare application can be added to any user's profile at http://apps.facebook.com/playtruthordare.
Facebook users will also be able to show their support for truth® by adding it as a “cause” on their individual Facebook profiles. The Facebook “Causes” application links to more than one million nonprofit organizations, allowing users to join or create causes about which they are passionate. Causes are prominently featured on users’ profiles, making this an easy way for Facebook users to spread the word to their friends. Those who add truth® to their profiles will be able to recruit others to join, request donations, and share updates about new truth® events, commercials, and more.
“With the annual budget for the truth® campaign not even equal to what the tobacco industry spends in just one day marketing its products in the U.S., truth® must make every dollar go further to continue to reach teens with our important messages,” said Eric Asche, Senior Vice President of Marketing for the American Legacy Foundation. “The Facebook application allows us to potentially raise much-needed funds for the campaign, but it does so organically – allowing teens to decide for themselves whether they want to support this cause and then share it with their friends. It’s very much in tune with the philosophy of the truth® campaign, which gives teens facts and information and then lets them make their own informed choices about what to do with that information.”
All of the new second quarter campaign elements are designed to engage teens by presenting, in a non-preachy manner, information on the health and social consequences of tobacco use and the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry. In reality, there is no sunny side to the issue of tobacco use in America; more than 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco-related diseases, and the tobacco industry continues to use questionable practices in promoting and marketing its products.
BACKGROUND ON THE truth® CAMPAIGN
truth®, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth® about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking. truth®, allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products. The campaign was created by the American Legacy Foundation, which was founded as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry, 46 states and five U.S. territories. Payments to the American Legacy Foundation are made on behalf of the settling states.
In February 2005 the American Legacy Foundation released the results of an evaluation of the national truth® campaign that was published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study found that 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking during the first two years of the campaign (2000-2002) is directly attributable to truth®. This equates to 300,000 fewer youth smokers in 2002 as a result of the campaign.
The American Legacy Foundation, which provides strategic direction and funding for the truth® campaign, received in 2003 what is likely its final payment to the National Public Education Fund established by the Master Settlement Agreement. Despite its success, the truth® campaign now faces an unprecedented funding challenge.