Edgy health campaign goes up in smoke in Vt.
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By Jesse Noyes
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Combining sexual dysfunction and Vermont’s green hills in an anti-smoking campaign can lead to messy results.
??? That’s a lesson the Vermont Department of Health and Burlington-based ad shop Kelliher Samets Volk learned when their edgy campaign hit Vermont’s young, male smokers below the belt last week.
??? The pair launched a statewide ad blitz of radio spots, napkins and condom wrappers heavily laced with sexual innuendo suggesting tobacco can result in a lack of virility among male smokers.
???? But within days, the Department of Health canned the campaign after receiving complaints about the napkins and condoms, which were sent to approximately 200 bars and four Vermont colleges.
??? “Our intention has never been to offend anybody,” said Cheryl Eaton, a partner at KSV. But the “hammer definitely came down.”
??? The problem wasn’t the approach, said Jason Gibbs, spokesman for Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas’ office. It was the execution. Gibbs said the governor’s office expressed concern with the Department of Health after hearing complaints from some family-friendly restaurants and inns.
??? “The local pub in my town thinks that this is just fine,” Gibbs said. “It’s certainly a creative campaign but it’s just not appropriate for some establishments.”
??? The napkins and condoms were distributed using a list of state businesses holding liquor licenses – a less than ideal method, said Sheri Lynn, tobacco control program chief at the Department of Health. “We learned that in looking at the list we could have done a little more research,” she said, adding the campaign missed it’s target audience of 18- to 24-year-old males.
??? The Department of Health plans to continue working with KSV but future efforts are unlikely to be as risque.
???? Next time around the ad agency will have to “grapple with what message will be as impactful,” Eaton said. “I’m honestly not sure what that would be.”?
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