The Smoking Kid- Bangkok's Anti-Smoking Campaign

So the experts say this is one of the best anti-smoking campaigns out there. I say: I agree! This campaign featuring smoking kids approaching adults in Bangkok asking for a lighter uses "shock" guerilla marketing to make people change their behaviour.

The adults go on to explain to the children how dangerous it is to smoke, how it can kill them or cause serious diseases. They tell the very young children that they should quit smoking. For such strong advocates of anti-smoking isn't it surprising that they still stand there smoking themselves? That's exactly what the genius at Ogilvy & Mather Bangkok thought. Why would these adults be so worried about these children and not about themselves?

This ad shows that people are aware of the dangers of smoking. It shows that perhaps the tactic to put pictures of diseases led on by smoking on packets or writting "Smoking Kills" just is not good enough and is not working. This ad shows very clearly that smokers are fully aware of the dangers but just do not act on it. 

I think to tackle this problem, this ad has taken a first step in demonstrating that maybe instead of instructing people on the dangers of smoking, they should demonstrate to them how little respect they show towards their own body. They are convincing enough when addressing the children and worry for these young smoking kids they have never met- yet they do not care about themselves - and this is exactly how this ad ends- with the smoking kid running off after handing the adult a small piece of paper saying those exact words.

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