Sunday, May 8, 2011

Thank you for not sucking

Talk about design for change! This campaign, created for the New Mexico Department of Health, is a non-smoking campaign geared toward young teens (typically young enough that they most likely have not been exposed to the pressure of smoking). Instead of educating teens as to why smoking is bad, or why they should stay away from it, the campaign takes a totally new approach—their slogan—“Thank you for not sucking” (instead of not smoking). This campaign is a perfect example of a situation in which the campaign targets a specific audience. I say this because in my opinion this particular tactic would not work on individuals much older than 17 or so… but that is also one of the reasons that it works!

This campaign literally became viral, supplying tee-shirts for kids to wear (my favorite is the one that says “it smells like you suck” and “do your parents know that you suck?”), and inviting middle school aged kids to create their own videos featuring creative ways to say no. If you watch this video, watch the first few minutes at least. The last 5 minutes features the children’s creative videos. I am posting this mainly because of the ingenious creativity that went into creating a [successful] non-smoking campaign which utilized various mediums to reach a specific audience…

For the future… I think handing out free tee-shirts with creative sayings that support a cause of your choice is a powerful way to communicate a message!

14 comments:

  1. Ha, I love it! What a great tactic. Really emphasizes the point of knowing your audience huh?

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  2. What Nina said. Also nice to know I don't suck.

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  3. That's so strange but I also think that it really works. Like you said, definitely emphasizes knowing your audience. Pre-teens and even young teens probably liked wearing the shirts because they're rather borderline on dress codes as 'suck' is one of those words that we feel dangerous saying when we're younger.

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  4. The getaway scooter in the clip was pretty funny. I would buy one of those shirts.

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  5. cool slogan. great idea. definitely a good audience to target cause they are the most impressionable age group, especially when it comes to smoking/sucking.

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  6. Ditto on what Nina said. Also proud to not suck!

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  7. Yes, I agree a good way to target the youngins! Good slogan and it is a pretty funny clip. Made me feel bad as a smoker but I'm sure that's the point. Unfortunately the campaigns when I was growing up didn't work on me. Hmmm, I guess I suck now? lol.

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  8. I love this, its really effective especially the sign that said, "If your parents suck, chances are you suck too!" Thats great!

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  9. I like the tagline and it's cool that they made such an effort to really get kids aware of what their purpose is. This really is specific to a certain age group, the videos are kind of weird though...

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  10. I think the concept is great, and definitely effective. However, I questions the choice of the word 'suck'? Is it a little crude to be using towards teenagers?

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  11. Love it. This type of design needs to be used more. Its effective and attractive.

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  12. How do current smokers think about this? While it seems like a innovative way to convey a message, I think it may offend those who are struggling to quit.

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  13. Yea, made me feel bad...but in the present the smoking criticisms are pretty strong so I guess I'm getting pretty used to it. Being told I smell bad or that I am destined for lung cancer is kind of a once a week thing. It actually does nothing to help me stop. I'm sure this ad is meant for those who haven't even started smoking but I know people who started smoking when they were 15 so I'm sure those of that age have come across the campaign. People who have never been a day-to-day smoker ever don't really know what its like to be a smoker...not like its a disease or disorder or something but I'm just saying people who haven't been smokers probably wouldn't know the stigma. It's a picked up habit to relieve stress and it doesn't really help to say to those people that they "suck". So yea I think it's right to question the word "suck" as John said.

    With that being said, I understand how non-smokers would think it was funny which is why I said it was a good ad and was funny for the youngins. It definitely works to separate the masses into smokers and non-smokers though...if that's what they were going for.

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  14. I like the use of "suck," particularly aimed at middle schoolers. Once you're in high school, you aren't going to listen to any PSAs, but the excuse to get away with being a little crude for a cause is something I can see 7th and 8th graders responding to.

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