Greg S. Sullivan

The other day I had the television on in the background after a long, hard day at work and a strange commercial caught my attention. There was an advertisement for Shard-O-glass freeze pops. The commercial was showing the processing production line of a freeze pop factory that included broken glass in the popsicles with an announcer warning the viewers that this product was not for children. I really thought this was a show about exotic or strange eating habits. As the commercial came to a close it had the tag line saying “what if all companies sold products like Big Tobacco (thetruth.com).”

As I look back, this is a very odd commercial with a serious message. In the past several years there have been some elaborate and extreme commercials comparing the makeup of cigarettes to rat poison, stacks of dead bodies in a public street, and so on. These commercials and style of advertising have caught a lot of attention of consumers. Have they really made a difference? – a question that remains to be answered.

The idea of the commercials is to grab attention by unusual methods and themes, but at the same time expose a truth about the tobacco industry and what they use in the making of cigarettes. The comparisons made bring the unknown chemicals or facts about smoking to the forefront of viewers' minds. With so many people recently interested in health and preventative issues they are appealing to what the people want to hear.

This group, called The Truth, have been using different ads over the years that seem to be about subjects that have nothing to do with cigarettes, but convey a message of the dangers of smoking. In actuality, The Truth is not against smokers but is more focused on exposing an industry that manipulates its products, facts and advertising to continue getting more people to smoke to replace the average 1200 smokers who die every day. They are more interested in showing people the true facts about cigarettes and the many chemicals that are actually involved in the making of cigarettes and are used to make people addicted to smoking.

In conclusion, The Truth tells the truth about the cigarette industry and the dangers of smoking. I am sure that it makes many of these cigarette companies upset with their ads, but all they are really doing is… telling the truth.

How do you feel about the truth ads?

Graphic Credit:
animationfactory.com