truth, the nation’s largest smoking prevention campaign for youth, is teaming up with MTV on new, branded TV programming that cleverly highlights facts and information about tobacco use and the tobacco industry.
The Real World: Zombieville is a parody of MTV’s long-running and popular program The Real World, now in its 24th season. Zombieville will run alongside The Real World: New Orleans on-air season, and mirror the show’s program in tone and style, including the use of hand-held cameras intercut with “confessional” testimonials from the cast.
“We are excited once again to be working with MTV on branded programming that connects with the MTV audience, while also highlighting the serious issue of tobacco use in a fun and entertaining way,” said Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, President and CEO of Legacy, the national public health foundation that directs and funds the truth campaign. “MTV has been a longtime supporter of our campaign. We are always pleased with how working in partnership with MTV, we continue to find creative ways to help us illuminate truth’s important messages about Big Tobacco and the dangers of tobacco use.”
A pioneer in the “reality television” genre, the premise of The Real World is for eight strangers from all walks of life to come together in one hip, luxurious house, and see how they interact, live and play – all the time with cameras rolling. For Zombieville, the “cast” will be placed in a house surrounded by “zombies.” The series descriptor says: “This is the story…of seven strangers…picked to live in a house…surrounded by zombies…to find out what happens…when people stop being polite…and start getting eaten …..(wait…what?)”
Shot in the vein of horror comedy movies like Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later, Zombieville will feature hungry zombies stalking the streets, trying to lure the cast out of their comfy house. Each of the six episodes will highlight a different aspect of tobacco, including information about warning labels, the dangers of secondhand smoke, teen smoking, and how Big Tobacco aggressively targeted different groups of consumers, including children and young women.
A section of the MTV website will include the Zombieville spots, background information on the Zombieville cast, and behind-the-scenes footage. Trailers for Zombieville will begin airing on August 18th, and the episodes will then run through the Real World season, ending September 15th.
The Zombieville integration with MTV continues a long working relationship between the two youth-centric brands. Since the campaign’s inception in 2000, truth’s edgy, iconic advertisements have been an established fixture on the channel, and MTV has provided additional opportunities to extend truth advertising through broadcast, online and outdoor advertising opportunities:
Prior initiatives have included:
December 2009 – This fashion-oriented integration with MTV involved the program MTV Styl’D. Every year, truth creates clothing and other items using images cool enough for teens to wear, yet the items still spread important messages about tobacco use and the tobacco industry. MTV Styl’D followed five young adults working as junior assistant stylists at a prominent New York styling agency. MTV and truth asked these junior assistants to take a break from pulling together clothes for celebrities and try their hand at creating original fashion for truth.
In October 2009, MTV aired truth-related mini-episodes based on its popular show, MADE, that followed two young adults trying to make it on the truthtour crew. MADE is a series that offers young adults the opportunity to make their dreams come true with dedication, hard work and a little help from MTV. The “MADE: the truth® rider challenge” segments showed just how hard the truthcrew works to help save lives, by making the campaign’s messages approachable and fun for teens who interact with the crew each summer in the truthzone.
Also in 2009, another integration called “The Infectors” followed two young men that represented the typical MTV hosts as they explored facts about tobacco. In all five spots, a crowd of people interrupt innocent bystanders in everyday experiences to illustrate some of the claims made by tobacco industry executives.
In 2008, truthand MTV created a tongue-in-cheek spin-off of the MTV program, The Island. Called The Blaze, the spinoff program was seen during weekly episodes of The Island. The Blaze pitted fictional contestants against one another in challenges that mirrored those on The Island, but that illustrated the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry and the dangers of tobacco use.
In early 2008, cartoon characters from the “Sunny Side of truth®” advertising campaign frequently popped up on-screen during episodes of The Real World XX: Hollywood to humorously comment on what was happening and to share information about tobacco and the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry. In addition, crew members – young people in their 20s – from the summer truth grassroots tour have been interviewed on the MTV program “Total Request Live.”
CREDITS
Writer/Director: Alan William Harris
Producer: Dan O’Hare
DP: Todd Antonio Somodevilla
Production Designer: Cara Brower
Wardrobe: Jesse Huber
Editor: Lynn Bousquet
Audio: David Huston
Graphics: Caleb Halter
For MTV:
Michael Lehrer – Sr. Director, Integrated Marketing
Cabe McCarty – Director, Integrated Marketing
Tina Exarhos – EVP Marketing & Multi-Platform Creative
Amy Campbell – VP Promos On Air Creative
Meg Sudlik – Sr Director Marketing On Air Promos
Advertising Agency of Record: Arnold Worldwide
Media Buying: PHD
BACKGROUND ON THE truthCAMPAIGN
truth, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking. truthallows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products.
Legacy is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EX®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. Legacy was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit www.legacyforhealth.org.
Legacy is equipped with a VideoLink ReadyCam™ television studio system, providing you with faster, easier access to the nation’s leading tobacco prevention and cessation experts. From this in-house broadcast studio, Legacy can offer immediate access to its experts to comment on breaking news, new research publications, or any news related to youth smoking prevention, adult quit smoking programs, or any issue related to smoking. The studio is connected directly to the Vyvx fiber network and is always available for live or pre-taped interviews.
