The Truth About The “Truth” Campaign
From: Odyssey
They’re condescending and out of touch.
Cigarettes kill. There’s no denying that. Since the passing of the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act in 1971, the advertisement of tobacco products has been banned on television and radio. In 1984, cigarette companies were forced into attaching the Surgeon General’s warning onto their packaging. Slowly, the danger of using tobacco products became more well known. However, it wasn’t until 1999 that advertisement shifted to full-blown anti-smoking campaigns.
The most well-known anti-smoking campaign is the “truth” campaign; stylized with a lowercase ‘t’. The organization was established in 1999 and focused on reducing the usage of tobacco by teenagers. They are known for using unusual commercials and fear tactics in order to discourage tobacco use. Understandably so. Fear is a good way to discourage someone from doing something. The “Real Cost” campaign also uses appalling imagery in order to represent what cigarettes can do to a person. They incorporate statistics with their ads in order to scare and educate viewers.
