This cinema PSA designed to illustrate the impact of smoking on health takes us to a parade. The focus is on six people on a parade float decorated with candy and fruit. The people are all adorned in hospital gowns as the float makes its way down the street, passing by spectators. It turns out these six people are in real life coping with tobacco-related disease–one for instance wears an oxygen mask, another has a hole in her throat.
They break out into song. The lyrics being crooned from the float go:
“Chocolate, vanilla and cinnamon.
Apple, honey and berry blend.
Strawberry, wildberry, tangerine.
Mango, raspberry, wintergreen.
That’s how you make cancer sweet.
Why do they make tobacco taste sweet?”
A message appears on screen which reads, “Tobacco companies’ products kill their customers. They can’t sell candy-flavored cigarettes anymore. But they still sell other tobacco products in over 45 candy flavors.”
We then her a parting chorus of, “Oh why do they make tobacco taste sweet?”
A child watches the parade in amazement.
An end tag asks us to meet the singers at thetruth.com.
Thomas Cook, 51, is one of the participants in the campaign. Cook previously appeared in the Emmy-nominated truth commercial, “Singing Cowboy,” in 2006. Images of Tom singing the words “you don’t always die from tobacco–” with an electronic voice box generated keen interest on YouTube and propelled the ad to iconic status. Cook started smoking at age 13 and was diagnosed at 38 with Stage IV larynx cancer.
Four of the featured participants can no longer work in their chosen fields or find full employment, due to physical disabilities. One gave up on his dreams of playing college baseball, after being diagnosed with cancer at age 17. Another cast member has severe physical limitations that impair his mobility and lifestyle.
This cinema :30 was directed by Baker Smith of Harvest for Arnold, Boston.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More