September 6, 2001 | Read Time: 2 minutes
When the American Legacy Foundation was created with a $1.5-billion pledge as part of a 1998 settlement of a lawsuit against the largest tobacco companies, antismoking activists had reason to be hopeful. But a much-heralded advertising campaign aimed at young people, as well as the foundation’s other antismoking programs, has been hampered by the legal agreement that created the group and by the political makeup of the organization’s board, according to the fall issue of Brill’s Content.
In an attempt to foil the tobacco industry’s efforts to woo another generation of smokers, Legacy’s first priority is a national advertising and marketing campaign warning of the dangers of smoking by teenagers.
“Truth,” as the campaign is called, aims to debunk the claims of the tobacco industry and change the way young people think about smoking, by creating an image that is “cooler than the tobacco brands,” the campaign’s creative director told Brill’s Content. The campaign’s commercials have featured teenagers hauling body bags onto the sidewalk of a tobacco company’s headquarters.
According to the magazine, Truth has become a household name among teenagers, but even those inside the organization say the campaign could do a better job if its ads were even more hard-hitting. “A lot of our work gets killed by lawyers,” the foundation’s creative director told the magazine. One reason, the magazine notes: The tobacco settlement states that the foundation’s advertising campaign should not be used to attack any person, company, or government agency.
Joe Schwarz, a Michigan state senator who serves on Legacy’s board, says the terms of the settlement have forced the group to find subtle ways to attack smoking, and he believes the right balance between “edgy” and “careful” has been achieved. “I think we’ve walked a pretty thin line, and I think we’ve stayed on the correct side of that line,” he says.
The article is available for a fee at http://www.inside.com.
