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New elements from the truth® campaign continue to ask “Do You Have What it Takes to be a Tobacco Executive?”
8/26/2009
Recap:
For its advertising campaign called “Do You Have What It Takes?,” (launched June 2009) the truth® youth smoking prevention campaign set up a mock recruiting office in New York City and invited real-life job seekers to interview for executive-level positions. Once in the interview, the candidates were questioned by a trained improvisational actor posing as the recruiter. The interactions were recorded by hidden cameras and, though many of the questions were scripted, the candidates’ reactions were real. The interactions sought to shed light on the tobacco industry’s business and marketing practices and incorporate tobacco-related facts into the scenario of having potential job candidates applying for a position.
New Elements: Spots
Two new spots are featured in different channels: on TV, in cinemas and on the Web at the truth.com and on truth®’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/truthorange:
“Tasks” finds a potential job candidate being asked to consider that she may be asked to do a certain amount of what the recruiter calls “busy work” like “collating, copying or boosting the impact of an addictive ingredient.” The last task refers to the fact that research has shown that tobacco companies manipulated the nicotine delivery methods in their products, boosting the nicotine’s impact. The candidate responds that she “will never do that.”
“Let’s say a company is looking for real go-getters,” the recruiter poses at the beginning of “Customers.” He then pours a box full of hundreds of plastic action figures on the desk between him and the candidate and asks the candidate to tell him how many of these potential customers he would go after. The candidate reaches out to grab them all, but the recruiter stops him and says, “One half of the lifelong users of your product will die from it,” as he pushes half of the action figures off of the desk, into a waste basket. When asked how many people he would “go after” now, the candidate sighs and says, “The job’s not for me.”
New Elements: Integrations and Online
thetruth.com is the hub for all things truth®. Visitors can watch the new spots, learn facts about tobacco use, play games and, most importantly, share what they find on thetruth.com.
- The latest widget is called truth® Pet, which fans can embed in their Social Networking profiles as a way to visualize their networks. The truth® pet widget shows the mannequin bust of a “tobacco exec” – the same image that appears at the end of all “Do You Have What it Takes?” television spots. Once users add this bust to their profiles, a mustache, beard, and eyebrows begin to grow based on the number of friends in that user’s network. truth® Pet can be added to Bebo, Facebook, Hi5 and MySpace.
- truth® will also offer a customized poll widget called Insta-Poll Generator. Visitors to thetruth.com and truth® social networking profiles will be able to create their own yes/no poll and share with their friends by embedding it within their own social networking profiles and blogs.
Since research has found that Big Tobacco products cause 90% of lung cancer, truth® is collecting signatures at thetruth.com/BTD and in the field on the truth® tour in support of renaming lung cancer to “Big Tobacco Disease.” As of August 18, 2009, more than 69,000 people have signed on to the petition.
Other television integrations this summer are tying in to the truth® tour – an annual summer initiative in which two crews and their signature orange “truth® trucks” make more than 60 stops across 25 states, as they travel to some of the season’s hottest teen-oriented events.
- As part of their coverage of the Vans Warped Tour on “Warped Wednesday” in August, Fuse tv will air four segments featuring Steven Smith of the popular show, “Steven’s Untitled Rock Show” giving viewers a look at how truth® and crew members interact with teens on this popular tour. The segments are titled “The truth® about Warped.”
- Fuel - This year, fuel tv is profiling some of the “truth® tour riders” as part of its integrated coverage of the AST Dew Tour, an event devoted to action sports like skateboarding and BMX. One of the three segments features a truth® crew member interviewing professional BMX rider Mike Spinner. The segments will air in July and August as part of “The Daily Habit” or “The Weekly Update with Boost Mobile.”
- The popular Hispanic youth-oriented channel, SiTV, will air two segments about the truth® tour as part of segments of “On the Up,” which covers the latest in pop culture, gossip, music, technology and news.
- On August 14, BET hosted a truth® tour crew member and one of the tour DJs on the popular afternoon music show 106th and Park.
Platforms and Timing:
- “Tasks” and “Customers” are currently in rotation on channels and programs popular with youth like fuse, G4, MTV and VH1, among others.
- truth® Pet can be downloaded at the following sites:
- Insta-Poll Generator can be found at facebook.com/truthorange under the “My Stuff” tab.
- Fuel TV’s second tour rider segment debuted August 14 during the Fuel program “The Daily Habit” and will run through the week of August 17. The segment can also be seen on thetruth.com Web site under the “Tour” section.
- Fuse tv’s “the truth® about Warped” airs every Wednesday in August and can be seen on thetruth.com Web site under the “Tour” section.
- The first of the truth® segments on SiTV’s “On The Up” began in late July and will continue through August.
- All of the “DYHWIT” campaign commercials can be found on the campaign’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/truthorange.
BACKGROUND RESEARCH
Recent research studies find — if given the choice — many Americans would choose not to work in the tobacco industry and already have a negative opinion of it. A recent survey, conducted by the American Legacy Foundation and Harris Interactive, revealed that:
- 82% of teens, ages 13-18, would not work for a tobacco company. (Legacy Media Tracking Online, Winter 2008/2009)
- 71% of them would like to see the cigarette companies go out of business. (LMTO)
- 76% think that cigarette companies should not be allowed to sell a product that harms people. (LMTO)
79% of teens agreed that cigarette companies want teens to believe that smoking is cool. (LMTO)
Contact: Stephen Winkler, 215.525.1106, swinkler@ad-itive.com; Patricia McLaughlin, 202.454.5560, pmclaughlin@americanlegacy.org