He'll save the day right after this cigarette
Utah's Department of Health has a new anti-smoking campaign courtesy of Crowell Advertising that targets boys 12 and under. To appeal to these pre-teens, Crowell created a superhero called Smokerman. A pack-a-day kinda guy, Smokerman is "the one who can't." In the five low-budget but fairly amusing spots, Smokerman fails to save the world again and again due to his unfortunate habit. The press release says the goal is to appeal to kids without spouting statistics, but a couple of them slip in there. Did you know every cigarette takes 11 minutes off your life? How do they even come up with numbers like that? Also, it should be noted that, for a glorified Ken doll, Smokerman is surprisingly hot. Way hotter than Powerman, with his weird logo and tacky neon-green outfit, or Speedyman, with his atrocious '80s hair and freaky goggles. With a fine 'stache like that, you just know Smokerman kicks ass. I hope they start selling the dolls. I want one to sit on my desk and stare blankly at me each time I go to chop another 11 minutes off my life. —Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
|
November 12, 2008 in Anti-smoking, Crowell, Cullers, PSAs, Youth | Permalink |
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
"every cigarette takes 11 minutes off your life"
seriously? i really really want to know how they came up with that one...
does anyone else feel that smokers are being (and have been) unfairly attacked? what about alcohol for example where the superhero that cant do anything becuase his lips are permanently glued to a bottle?
Posted by: Dan from Idea Bounty | Nov 12, 2008 9:46:36 AM
I believe they made that movie, starring Will Smith.
Posted by: | Nov 12, 2008 11:03:37 AM
Is it just me or does Smoker Man look like he is in fairly good shape? And also he has such a dashing moustache...I think this advertising is backfiring.
Posted by: Stuart Foster | Nov 12, 2008 11:32:06 AM
probably the best anti-smoking commercials ive ever seen. they are not in your face and they get the point across while being pretty funny. bravo
Posted by: haha | Nov 12, 2008 2:41:13 PM
I love these ads, but they probably appeal more to girls attracted to skinny, dark-haired, mustache-sporting, chain-smoking men. Hey, I think I know this guy. He lives in Williamsburg.
Posted by: sleeping in my party dress | Nov 12, 2008 4:39:47 PM
Man, it sure is believable when 9-year olds spout statistical figures.
43% of people really enjoy that.
Posted by: Pace | Nov 12, 2008 6:07:01 PM
Great campaign. So why do they hamstring themselves by not giving people/kids the chance to share the spots?
Between facebook, myspace, etc., I could see the message being spread far and wide.
A little extra work could have made all the difference.
Posted by: Paul | Nov 13, 2008 4:41:51 PM
Rebecca...
I'm with you, I want a Smokerman Doll, and I also want his love interest, a Boozergal Doll. They could hump in my desk drawer while I shoot porn videos. The three of us would end up rich.
Cheers/George
Posted by: George AdScam Parker | Nov 16, 2008 9:50:47 PM
I have a three year old son who, dispite and my husband argueing the point, believes that this is a real toy and wants one. This commercial makes me so angry because of this. He is too young to understand what the commercial is saying and thinks it is just another toy commercial. He goes around the house singing the song. He now thinks that smoking is cool.
Posted by: Laci | Apr 24, 2009 7:28:06 PM
