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Number
69: September 15, 2004
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This week in Katydid:
Smoking
Is a Choice… Addiction
What if, to save your company, you agreed to advertise against your own
products? How would you handle that marketing handicap, and how would
you frame the message? That issue faced the group of tobacco
companies that settled with the Attorneys General of 46 states back
in 1998.
In that settlement, more than $200 billion will be paid over 25 years
to the participating states to recover losses associated with
smoking-related illnesses. Many of those states used some of that money
to create anti-smoking campaigns in their own states. Some states still
can't say what they've done with the money.
The tobacco companies themselves have had to dramatically change
their marketing strategies as well as create campaigns against their
own products. The most recent is the campaign for Phillip Morris, which
produces the Marlboro, Parliament, and Virginia Slims brands of
cigarette. The television
campaign directs viewers to the Phillip
Morris web site, to read information about quitting smoking. In the
ads, various facts are read in voice over while browsing the web site.
The tone of the ads contrasts sharply with the more aggressive
approach of the states' advertisements. The Arizona Department of Health
Services caused a national stir several years ago with their negative
campaign, "Tobacco:
Tumor-Causing, Teeth-Staining, Smelly, Puking, Habit," which
took the approach used in old highway safety films. That is, show lots
of casualties.
The American
Legacy Foundation, a 501(c) (3) group created with funds from the
settlement agreement, has taken up this approach. The Foundation created
the truth® campaign,
its web site, and a grassroots campaign organization called Streetheory.
The latest advertisements for truth are the "Welcome to
Crazyworld" spots that feature unsavory facts about smoking set in
a circus sideshow.
It should not be surprising that Phillip Morris would take a less
aggressive approach, but one could argue that their latest campaign is
targeted at adults. It gives them a resource to find out about youth
smoking and to learn information about smoking prevention.
I've noticed, however, that the anti-smoking ads put out by the
tobacco companies frame their message uniquely. They emphasize that
smoking is a personal lifestyle choice that one should avoid. Even the
youth-oriented ads seem to say that smoking is not 'cool' and the hip
kids would make a better choice.
This is interesting because the one admission from the tobacco
companies that came hardest was that tobacco was addictive. Though these
ads clearly spell out the dangers of tobacco, they also reinforce a
message that tobacco is a drug one can choose. Of course, once you're
addicted to nicotine, a notoriously difficult drug to quit, the issue of
choice goes out the window.
The ads emphasize that children should never start smoking, but by
focusing on choice and the dangers of youth smoking, they create an
adult mystique about smoking similar to that of alcohol. So, kids may
get the message that they shouldn't smoke, but once kids think they're
grown up, they might think they're mature enough to try it.
The ads from the various states tend to be extreme and use cool kids
to embody the distaste for tobacco. But they also have come to emphasize
the message of healthy choices. Arizona's
Tobacco Education and Prevention Program (TEPP) changed their
campaign to focus on getting adults to quit with their Cold
Turkey Campaign.
In Virginia, arguably the state with the closest ties to the tobacco
industry, the Virginia
Tobacco Settlement Foundation (VTSF) campaign centers around tobacco
being a bad choice:
"The mission of the "Y
Campaign" is to reduce youth tobacco use in Virginia by
empowering Virginia youth to choose a healthy lifestyle."
The tagline for the Y Campaign is "Can anybody tell us why
smoking isn't stupid?"
These more humorous messages focus on health and behavior, which is
the least effective approach with youth. According to research conducted
by the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation:
"Advertisements
featuring messages about serious health consequences which had
been independently rated as high in negative emotion were more likely
to be recalled and were perceived as more effective by youth survey
respondents than ads featuring messages about normative behavior for
teens or ads relying on humor."
However, the new campaigns from the tobacco companies may have more
to do with preparing for a political battle. Last week an investigative
report by Peter Jennings of ABC News reported on the lack of any
legislation controlling tobacco in the six years since the settlement.
One of the pending and most contentious issues is whether the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) will have any control over the industry.
An audience inundated with messages about how smoking is merely a bad
habit that one can give up with will power and determination, who have
seen the tobacco companies clearly try to steer children away from their
products, will be more likely to think that the tobacco companies can
regulate themselves.
The tobacco companies are trying to transition away from cigarettes.
They are researching smokeless cigarettes and other means for
administering nicotine. They are developing new markets comprised of
those who are trying to quit smoking. (Tobacco is the source of nicotine
for patches, gums and other methods of graduated withdrawal.) But they
pointed out themselves long ago that their consumers were disappearing
and the only way to replace the market was to target a new generation.
As the second-largest advertiser behind the auto industry, tobacco is
not planning on going out of business soon.
I should add that I don't smoke. Sure, I smoked a few in college. (A
cigarette is the perfect complement to cheap whiskey and pain.) My
grandparents were the best anti-smoking campaign one could imagine. I
remember their faces only through floating layers of haze from
Pall-Malls and Tareytons. Cigarettes were their constant props and a
part of every gesture of their hands. By the time I got to high school,
I had more cigarette burns than… (Well, I'll leave that joke alone).
My children were fortunate enough to meet their great-grandparents
before they passed on, and they don't need any further reminders of the
perils of smoking.
Target
Your Youth Market
One of the more interesting finds on my journey through tobacco
advertising was this
research from the Virginia Y Campaign. The tobacco settlement
provided many extra dollars to conduct marketing research – research
that may easily apply to your industry as well. I help my clients
uncover these kinds of treasures that they wouldn't expect to find. Contact
me today to talk about your marketing and messaging needs.
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Kind regards,
Kevin Troy Darling
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