Smoking Can Seriously Damage Your Health

One of the hardest things for ad agencies are probably to create advertisements for serious issues, especially things that kill you.

As a marketer, you want people to listen to you, you want them to understand how serious the issue really is. For instance, I wrote about how to stop people from killing themselves (an advertisement for why people should use seat belts). The advertisement was awesome, and although I don’t know the effects of the campaign, I believe that it was one of the most effective ads to get people to use seat belts. It’s because it was easy to understand what happened, and it’s about embracing life and all about emotions. They’re not using shock as a tactic.

If you can create a funny advertisement for a serious issue like why people should quit smoking, you’re good. The interesting thing about smoking is that most people already know why they should quit, they just don’t.

You don’t have to use shock as a tactic, and you don’t have to use all the detailed information about what happens to you if you continue smoking. Make it different and funny.

Here are three advertisements that I think deserves another look:

The balcony

Bad day to quit smoking

Women feel safe with men who smoke

Do you know other funny commercials? If you do, add a link to your comment or contact me and I might publish it next weekend.