California’s anti-smoking campaign—out of asher& partners, Los Angeles (which recently merged with Italia/Gal to form Asher/Gal)—includes several entries which, over the past couple of years, have made SHOOT’s "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery. But thankfully, enough Californians—particularly teenagers—have been seeing the work to make a positive difference.
A state survey has found that smoking among California’s teenagers has declined by more than one-third. Data from the State Department of Health Services shows that 6.9 percent of California’s youths, ages 12 to 17, smoked in ’99, down from 10.7 percent the previous year. Public health officials deem this improvement especially significant in that many kids start smoking to be cool only to later realize they are addicted and can’t shake a deadly lifelong—and potentially life-shortening—habit.
This progress on the teen front, hopefully, will bode well for the young adult demographic, ages 18-24, whose smoking rate went up slightly in California. Part of the strategy is to impact youngsters at an early age. If you reduce teen smoking, it’s likely that this group will continue to stay away from tobacco as they enter adulthood. Similarly, ads have been made to influence adults’ behavior so as to prevent their kids from becoming smokers—or at the very least to make children less tempted by tobacco when they reach the teenage years.
Demonstrating the latter was "Cradle Me," a black-and-white :30 which earned "The Best Work You May Never See" distinction earlier this year (SHOOT, 2/25, p. 17). The spot reaches adults through their kids, and is designed to make parents better non-smoking role models. Directed by Nick Brandt of Los Angeles-based Palomar Pictures, the ad also touches poignantly upon the danger of second-hand smoke. "Cradle Me" simply shows children and infants, often interacting with adults. It opens on a boy sitting atop a man’s shoulders, at which point we hear a child’s voiceover: "Cradle me. I’m yours."
As we then see a boy running through a field, the voiceover continues, "My hands, yours." An infant being bathed is accompanied by a voice that says, "My eyes, yours." A girl is then seen standing in a wind-swept field, her arms extended and her eyes closed. You can sense that her imagination is running wild as the voiceover states: "My heart, yours." Finally, a boy who is seated on the living room floor reaches up to grab the hand of a grownup. The voiceover implores: "Please don’t smoke in my world."
Then an adult voiceover interjects: "The first five years of a child’s life can impact the rest of their lives."
Messages such as these have also arguably contributed to a decline in adult smoking. The percentage of California adults who smoke went down this past year from 18.4 to 18 percent. Albeit a marginal decrease, it still represents a dramatic drop from the smoking rates recorded in the ’80s. Nationally, it’s estimated that about 25 percent of adults smoke.
While many factors have helped to reduce key smoking rates in California, the ad campaign and promotional community outreach materials undeniably deserve some credit. That’s reason enough for Gov. Gray Davis (D-Calif.) to continue funding the creatively and strategically thoughtful efforts that began a decade ago to prevent kids from starting to light up, and to help the many others who want to quit smoking.
