Call it a Berlitz-like training session—but with a perverse twist. The camera opens on a row of cowboys who request in unison, "Come to Marlboro Country."
Turns out we’re in a classroom full of cowpokes, all wearing boots and Stetson hats—the quintessential American Marlboro Men. Yet this curious sight soon underscores the fact that we are, indeed, in a global economy.
We hear a female teacher instruct her corral of students, "OK, now in Mandarin."
She repeats "Come to Marlboro Country" in that dialect. The Chinese words are written on the chalkboard, along with the English translation and what looks like the same phrase in assorted other foreign languages.
As the teacher utters the Marlboro cigarettes slogan in Chinese, the students echo her, word for word.
A two-part super then appears: "Tobacco Companies Don’t Mail Promotional Items to Children" / "Except in China."
As we read that super, the corporate cowboys are again repeating their line in Mandarin. A second two-part super gives us yet another sobering dose of reality: "When The Tobacco Companies Can’t Do Something in the U.S." / "They Just Go Someplace Else."
The camera takes us out to the school hallway, giving us a narrow view of the classroom through its windowed door. The cowboys again recite in their newfound Chinese tongue. With each utterance, the pronunciation and inflections improve. Clearly, repetition can be a teacher’s—and students’—best friend.
The "Truth" logo for Florida’s anti-tobacco campaign is then supered on screen. The spot ends as we hear the teacher praise her attentive students for a job well done. "Very nice," she says.
This :30 is one of three "Language Classes" spots for Florida’s ongoing "Truth" campaign. Another shows the cowboys in class learning Swahili. A super informs us that it’s illegal to advertise tobacco without a warning label—"except in Africa." The third spot lesson is in Spanish, and lets us know that it’s illegal to place billboards near schools—"except in Venezuela."
Indeed, image ads glamorizing tobacco use—embodied in the Marlboro Man—are still fair game in foreign countries. So is aggressively recruiting youngsters to smoke. Overseas it’s the U.S. during the 1950s and part of the ’60s, when cigarette makers’ TV spots successfully harvested new generations of smokers to succeed those who died. But this back-to-the-future scenario is hardly nostalgic. In fact it’s horrific: Ironically, every foreign nation potentially can become "Marlboro Country."
The "Language" spots were directed by Noam Murro of Hollywood-based Biscuit Filmworks for Crispin Porter+Bogusky (CP+B), Miami. The CP+B creative ensemble consisted of creative director Alex Bogusky, art director Ryan O’Rourke, copywriter Steve O’Connell and producer Michelle Lazzarino.
Murro’s support team at Biscuit included executive producer Shawn Lacy Tessaro and line producer Caroline Pham. The golden-toned spots were shot by DP Eric Schmidt.
Jeff Sternberger of Jeffco, Miami, and Ari Oron of Bikini Edit, New York, cut the "Language" campaign. Online editor was Mike Nonelle of Manhattan R!OT, Miami. Mixer was Steve Johnston of Outpost Audio, Miami.
