Just in time for New Year’s resolutions, this :30 deploys the “monkey on your back” metaphor to hopefully inspire folks to quit smoking.
The spot opens on a man who wakes up in bed, turns on the lamp to reveal that there’s a monkey standing on his shoulder. The monkey points to a pack of cigarettes on the end table.
Next there’s a woman who has a different variety of monkey species on her back as she’s seated at her office workstation. This monkey opens the top drawer to her desk, revealing a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
We then see yet another person–and another variety of monkey–in an automobile. The driver has his eyes on the road while the monkey puts a lit cigarette in the man’s mouth who takes a puff.
Finally we’re taken outside a restaurant where a man and woman are puffing away, each with a different monkey on their backs.
A voiceover relates, “When it comes to quitting smoking, everyone’s monkey is different…so you need an approach that’s different too.”
An end tag provides a toll free phone hotline to ClearWay Minnesota’s QUITPLAN Services. ClearWay is an independent nonprofit organization designed to improve the health of Minnesotans by reducing the harm caused by tobacco.
Steve “Spaz” Williams of Hoytyboy Pictures directed the spot for agency Clarity Coverdale Fury, Minneapolis.
Michelle Satter To Be Honored At Sundance Film Festival Gala
The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced details for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s gala fundraiser, Celebrating Sundance Institute, which will take place on Friday, January 24, 2025 at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Utah. The event will be an evening in celebration of Michelle Satter, founding sr. director of artist programs at Sundance Institute, for her longstanding commitment to nurturing artists and cultivating independent film through the Sundance Labs, where visionary artists convene to develop groundbreaking projects through an in-depth creative process, for the past four decades. The annual Vanguard Awards will be presented during the evening to Sean Wang, writer and director of Dìdi, and Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, co-directors of Sugarcane, who premiered their films at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The annual gala enables the nonprofit to raise funds to support independent artists year-round through labs, grants, and public programming that nurture artists from all over the world. The 2025 event is made possible with the generous support of Google TV. The Festival will take place from January 23–February 2, 2025, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, with a selection of titles available online from January 30–February 2, 2025 for audiences across the country to discover bold independent storytelling.
“For over four decades Michelle has been devoted to truly championing independent storytellers,” said Amanda Kelso, acting CEO of Sundance Institute. “She has encouraged artists to own their voice, learn their craft, become fierce leaders, and develop their resilience in our changing ecosystem. Her life-long commitment to supporting artists, especially in underrepresented... Read More