Comparing social smoking to public farting
Well it’s true that I fart, but I wouldn’t call myself a farter. I’m a social farter. I really only do it when I’m out with my friends who fart.
The above is one of three videos recently released by Ontario’s Ministry of Health as part of a public awareness campaign to counter social smoking. This campaign, Quit the Denial, is meant to target young smokers between the ages of 18 and 29 who only smoke when they’re with their friends or in social situations. The ads are basically trying to convey that social smoking is just as ridiculous as publicly farting, picking ear wax, and nibbling.
The Social Nibbler has received 23,091 in the past three weeks, the Social Farter with 558,916 in the past two weeks, and the Social Ear Picker with 9,252 in the past week. So far, the campaign has received mostly positive reactions. I do agree that social smoking is an extraordinary illogical concept and I’m glad to see the Ministry of Health addressing such issues; however, despite the fact that these ads have well-intended purposes, other than getting a few chuckles out of its viewers I don’t think this campaign will have much impact. After watching the first clip, I clicked into the second one and was bored within 4 seconds. A major flaw in these videos is that they’re just repeats of the same thing rather than complements to one another.
Do you think this campaign will last/make an impact?