The perils of secondhand smoke even in the great outdoors come to roost in this PSA directed by Scott McCullough for Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing, Austin, Texas.
The :30 features a large tanker truck driving through Austin, emblazoned with the sign “Cigarette Smoke.” A worker in a haz-mat suit wields a hose from the truck and sprays residents with thick, billowy clouds of noxious fumes.
People at an outdoor restaurant, kids playing in a park and pedestrians strolling along a path react in horror and disgust as they are enveloped by the sooty smoke. The voiceover notes that secondhand cigarette smoke contains 7,000 chemicals, many harmful to humans, and directs consumers to the Live Tobacco-Free Austin website for more information.
Sherry Matthews executive creative director Charles Webre said that the dangers of secondhand smoke in outdoor environments has never before been the target of a public service campaign. “We’re covering new ground,” he said. “People are aware that secondhand smoke is dangerous, but they often don’t think of it as a problem outside the context of an enclosed, indoor environment.”
The tanker truck drew a lot of attention when it was driven through Austin for the production of the new PSA, noted Sherry Matthews creative director Wally Williams. “It’s the biggest prop we’ve ever worked with,” he said.
McCullough, an indie director who’s seeking a permanent affiliation with a commercial production company, shot the spot at locations around Austin while working around potential thunderstorms and a half-marathon race held in the city on the same day. Despite the challenge of shooting a large truck on public streets and the need to shoot every scene twice, for the English and Spanish versions, McCullough wrapped the project in a little more than one day.
Stars Among Those Who Lost Their Homes In L.A. Area Fires; Jamie Lee Curtis Pledges $1M To Relief Effort
Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Jeff Bridges, and R&B star Jhené Aiko, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week's Oscar nominations have been delayed. And tens of thousands of Angelenos are displaced and awaiting word Thursday on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city's most famous denizens. Thousands of structures have been destroyed but damage assessments are just beginning. More than 180,000 people are also under evacuation orders in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, a number that continues to shift as new fires erupt. Late Wednesday, a fire in the Hollywood Hills was scorching the hills near the famed Hollywood Bowl and Dolby Theatre, which is the home of the Academy Awards. That fire had been largely contained without damage to Hollywood landmarks. Here are how the fires are impacting celebrities and the Los Angeles entertainment industry: Stars whose homes have burned in the fires Celebrities like Crystal and his wife, Janice, were sharing memories of the homes they lost. The Crystals lost the home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood that they lived in for 45 years. "Janice and I lived in our home since 1979. We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can't be taken away. We are heartbroken of course but with the love of our children and friends we will get through this," the Crystals wrote in the statement. After her learning her Pacific Palisades home was lost in the fires, Melissa Rivers says she was... Read More