Online Quantitative Study of Youth Reactions to Rough-Cut Advertising Designed to Prevent Youth Tobacco Use among General Market Youth (Wave 2)

ONLINE QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF YOUTH REACTIONS TO ROUGH-CUT ADVERTISING DESIGNED TO PREVENT YOUTH TOBACCO USE AMONG GENERAL MARKET YOUTH (WAVE 2)

STIMULI

(Equivalent to produced ads that will be tested)

CONTENTS

1. SMOKE ARMY I :30 TV

2. SMOKE ARMY II :30 TV

3. CONTRACT GIRL :30 TV

4. WHAT IF A CIGARETTE COULD GOOGLE ITSELF/EMBALMING FLUID :30 TV

5. WHAT IF A CIGARETTE COULD GOOGLE ITSELF/ALL THE CHEMICALS : 30 TV

6. AIR LUNGS/DURANT :30 TV

7. CREATURES/FOUND IT :30 TV

8. HARD/EASY :30 TV

9. REASONS/SKINNY JEANS :30 TV

SMOKE ARMY I :30 TV

We open at the edge of a dark, dank forest, with gnarled trees and roots twisted together. We can see light smoke rising from smoldering stumps and brush. From off-camera we hear a bellowing voice shouting in the distance.

We cut to a disfigured, inhuman beast; adorned with metal armor, weapons, and war paint who’s barking orders to his army in a language we can’t understand.

AVO: There’s an army of 7,000.

Camera cuts to an army of 7,000. They’re all dressed for battle. We see soldiers grabbing their weapons and scurrying into formation.

Cut to a soldier who raises his head and pounds his chest with the butt of his axe. We notice flames growing from the smolder behind him.

AVO: Waiting. Hungry for destruction.

The army starts stomping their feet and weapons in rhythm. This creates a harrowing beat of war and destruction. They begin to march towards the camera. The smoke grows heavier and the flames brighter. We hear the deafening footsteps and war cries in the distance.

AVO: Ready to attack, if struck upon first.

We cut to the back of a teen as we hear the strike of his lighter.

Cut back to the forest which is now engulfed in flames. The army is charging full speed

towards camera.

REVISED AVO: Every time you smoke, a toxic mix of over 7,000 chemicals are coming for you. So before you smoke one, find out what’s in one.

Dynamic super where we quickly flash some of the chemicals found in a cigarette - formaldehyde, nitromethane, and carbon monoxide.

TheRealCost.gov.

SMOKE ARMY II :30 TV

We open on a thick mist that is moving toward camera. Suddenly, out of the mist comes a great army—a terrifying, inhuman army of beasts, armed with battleaxes, swords, maces and the like. They’re charging towards camera and into an abstract representation of a teen’s body. They are fierce and powerful with an insatiable appetite for destruction. They’re unstoppable.

We see their rugged hands wielding weapons, and blades slicing into the walls of the seemingly living, breathing cave. The veiny walls move as the army rushes through. We hear their battle cries and terrifying outbursts as they continue to slash their way through the dark tunnel.

Suddenly, the army turns around and starts going back the way they came, never losing their lust for the fight, leaving nothing but devastation in their wake. We see a few soldiers left behind as the rest of the massive army exits.

Cut to outside of a boy’s body as he exhales cigarette smoke

REVISED AVO: Every time you smoke, a toxic mix of over 7,000 chemicals are coming for you. So before you smoke one, find out what’s in one.

Dynamic super where we quickly flash some of the chemicals found in a cigarette – benzene, lead and naphthalene.

TheRealCost.gov.

CONTRACT GIRL :30 TV

The ad opens with words scrolling by on a curved white wall. As the camera rolls from top to bottom, we hear the voice of a teenage girl reading what seems to be some sort of contract. As she reads, we see glimpses of her life as a teenager enjoying newfound freedoms like hanging in her room with her friends, listening to music, surfing the web, dyeing her hair an interesting color, and driving a car with her friends.

But as the contract reveals its real intentions, the images become less about freedom and more about addiction—darker and more claustrophobic. We see her handing her money over, leaving parties to go outside, and finally by herself, outside her car.

 

VO: I, Megan Bishop, at the point of my life when I can stake a claim to my own personal space and express my style without outside interference, with a tank full of gas and a brand new driver’s license, now, that I’m finally tasting freedom, I agree by this contract to be bound to YOU from hence forth. To let you decide how I spend my money, to come running the instant you snap your fingers, and to follow your lead against my own better judgment.

We then see her alone in the dark of the night, shivering outside the car she was driving.

VO: In this simple act, I relinquish part of my freedom to you.

 

At that moment, the camera zooms out and we see that the contract was inside a cigarette all along. The camera keeps zooming out and we see that the cigarette is in between her fingers.

 

TITLE CARD: EVERY TIME YOU LIGHT UP, YOU SIGN UP, FOR THIS. THREE OUT OF FOUR TEEN SMOKERS WHO THINK THEY WILL STOP SMOKING IN A FEW YEARS DON’T. DON’T LET TOBACCO CONTROL YOU.

TheRealCost.gov.

WHAT IF A CIGARETTE COULD GOOGLE ITSELF/EMBALMING FLUID

:30 TV

Open with a Super

SUPER: WHAT IF A CIGARETTE COULD GOOGLE HIMSELF?

Cut to a giant cigarette sitting in front of a computer. He rubs his hands and starts googling himself.

He writes, “Cigarettes…” and the auto-complete system gives him one option. He reads it and freaks out.

CIGARETTE SMOKE HAS FORMALDEHYDE.

Cigarette: But that’s a chemical used to preserve dead animals! Do we really have that?

Suddenly his dog shows up next to the cigarette, and the cigarette starts petting him while he answers:

Cigarette: No we don’t Rex, no we don’t. Do we Rex, do we?

Suddenly, the dog becomes embalmed, hard as a rock.

SUPER: HE’LL FIND OUT CIGARETTE SMOKE HAS MORE THAN 7000 CHEMICALS.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIM AT THEREALCOST.GOV

WHAT IF A CIGARETTE COULD GOOGLE ITSELF/ALL THE CHEMICALS

: 30 TV

Open with a Super

SUPER: WHAT IF A CIGARETTE COULD GOOGLE HIMSELF?

Cut to a giant cigarette sitting in front of a computer. He starts googling himself.

He writes, “Cigarettes…” and the auto-complete system gives him one option. He reads it and freaks out.

CIGARETTE SMOKE HAS MORE THAN 7000 CHEMICALS.

Cigarette: I HAVE MORE THAN 7000 chemicals? I’m going to read them one by one.

We see the cigarette scrolling down the screen and we see that days go by as his cigarette body consumes.

SUPER: HE’LL FIND OUT CIGARETTE SMOKE HAS MORE THAN 7000 CHEMICALS .

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIM AT THEREALCOST.GOV

AIR LUNGS/DURANT :30 TV

We see Durant take three big breaths.

Durant VO: The more air…

And then take off and dunk over some dude.

Durant VO: …the more air.

Durant VO: Introducing the new Air Lungs.

We cut to a pair of Air Lungs in a vaguely bio-tech setting – fabricated sleek, breathing, healthy lungs, emblazoned with the Nike Swoosh.

We see Durant from behind as he inserts his Air Lungs into his chest. And then continue to dominate some dude on the court.

Durant VO: More 02, more school.

AVO: Powerfully perfect Air Lungs. You only get one pair, don’t wear ‘em out.

Durant VO: Who’s next.

CARD: Smoking as a teen can stunt lung growth, so your lungs may never grow or perform to their potential.

No lungs. No Glory.

TheRealCost.gov.

* Nike partnership for illustrative purposes. Any actual sports brand partnership would be vetted and approved via CTP.

CREATURES/FOUND IT :30 TV

Kid filmed this with their cellphone. We found the footage.

A boy is holding the strangest looking alien of an insect.

BOY: Check it out.

GIRL: What is it?

BOY: Found it out back.

GIRL: Can I hold it?

He hands it to her. She lets it crawl up her arm.

PERSON FILMING: Ewwwwwww…

It suddenly slithers up her sleeve and it bites her.

GIRL: Ow! It bit me! It bit me!

It jumps to the ground and looks for an escape. They are all screaming.

KIDS: Oh my god! GET IT AWAY!

The person filming turns the phone back on the girl. She looks green and dizzy. She’s sweating and sitting against a locker.

GIRL: I don’t feel so good, a little short of breath

BOY: There it is!

The person with the cell phone chases it and we see it slither right into a cigarette box.

VO: With over 7,000 chemicals, if cigarettes looked as dangerous as they are, you’d run like hell.

CARD: TheRealCost.gov

HARD/EASY:30 TV

THE COVER UP

In this spot we’ll see the great lengths a teenage smoker will take, in order to cover up the smell of cigarettes on his hands, clothes, hair and car. His story will be told in a stream-of-conscience monologue - rattled off in voiceover as his story plays out on screen.

We OPEN ON a teenage boy furiously scrubbing his hands and swishing around mouthwash. The scene moves quickly with a frenetic energy. The cut bounces around at a paranoid, almost manic pace - highlighting each and every painful detail.

So while he continues to try ‘freshen up’ – no matter where he is, or what it takes - we hear a VO narrate the spot.

VO: It’s not easy to wash your hands 8 times a day, while chewing 3 sticks of gum, after rinsing, gargling and spitting out 2 cups of mouthwash and repeating, and repeating, just after spraying your hair with deodorizer and covering up the smell of the deodorizer with cologne after swapping out your t-shirt and layering it with a fresh hoodie, no that hoodie smells too – THIS hoodie – then airing out your car in a 19-degree ice-storm nor’easter that gives your backseat passengers a mild case of hypothermia.

No. It’s not easy being hooked.

But it’s easy to become hooked.

We see the Teenager light up a cigarette.

VO: Just a few cigarettes now and then can cause you to crave more.

Title: TheRealCost.gov

REASONS/ SKINNY JEANS :30 TV

Open on an abandoned handball court. There’s a 14 year-old kid hanging out with some friends by the court.

Another kid with really skinny jeans walking silly (like he’s from the old west) comes up to the kids and someone asks him:

Kid 1: Hey, can you give me a cigarette?

Kid 2: I’m not smoking no more man.

Kid 1: Why? Because you’ve heard that some of the chemicals found in cigarettes are found in batteries and rocket fuel?

Kid 2: No, because I can’t carry them. Since I wear these really skinny jeans I have to choose only one thing to carry.

Kid 1: What did you choose?

Kid 2: This picture of Selena Gomez.

The kid pulls out of his pocket the photo of Selena Gomez and shows it to the other kid. He replies:

Kid 1: Excellent choice.

The two kids stare at each other as the super comes in:

Super: ANY REASON IS A BRILLIANT REASON NOT TO SMOKE.

Super: Every cigarette puts more than 7,000 chemicals into your body.

#FINDYOURREASON

TheRealCost.gov