Not smoking: Logical actually

We suspected it: smoking is no longer fashionable. While Switzerland is still wrestling with a general ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) today launched its nationwide tobacco prevention campaign. The aim of the campaign is to encourage smokers to quit and non-smokers to give up their "cigi". In view of the damage caused by smoking, this is "actually logical". This is precisely the summary of four celebrities and twelve non-celebrity testimonials in ten TV commercials and seven advertising subjects in German, French and Italian - and at the same time the slogan of the campaign.

Smoking is out
The 18-second TV spots focus on experiences with smoking. The emotional, reportage-style films show, for example, Renate Moser, daughter of a smoker, who fears for her father in hospital. With her head down, she ponders whether it wouldn't be better if cigarettes had never been invented. She concludes with the statement "actually logical" and looks the spot viewer directly in the eye. This look is accurate. This is also how the other nine spots work, illuminating the whole range of experiences with smoking. They include teenager Tarek, who has been kissed passionately again since he gave up cigarettes, a smoking mother who wishes her daughter would never put a cigarette in her mouth, and a woman who lost her husband to smoking. But not all of the commercials are tear-jerking: For example, the film with 90-year-old Margrit Stebler-Schweri, who notes that in the past you had to smoke to be trendy, while today only non-smoking is really cool, makes you smile.
Similar to the TV commercials, the ads use celebrity and non-celebrity testimonials to make statements about smoking. In each case, the results of FOPH studies that match the statement provide facts that underline the statements. And, of course, the ads also point in white on blue: "Actually logical", combined with the bent cigarette, which is already familiar from last year's FOPH campaign.

Everything is real
The campaign is given special charm by the fact that all the testimonials are "real. The experiences and fates portrayed in the commercials and ads are real. By Heart/cR Kommunikation was able to win the people through a casting. "Our testimonials reveal a very private part of themselves," says Hans Siegwart, creative director of By Heart. "But it wasn't our goal to expose sufferers. The statements really come from these people and they also all wanted to participate in the awareness campaign of their own accord. That's what makes the spots and ads so authentic." The campaign is also given special power by the fact that equal weight is given to the statements of celebrities and non-celebrities: Renate Moser is next to Stéphane Chapuisat, Barbara Meier next to Sabina Schneebeli, Diego Benaglio and Dimitri.
The campaign runs from now until the end of May, and also in August and October. The spots will be seen on all major and regional TV stations throughout Switzerland, and the ads will be placed in all major newspapers and magazines. Short spots will run on e-boards in train stations, and two of the TV spots will also be shown in cinemas.

Anne-Friederike Wilhelm

> To the spot waiting room
> To the Chapuisat spot
> To the spot role model
> To the spot bereaved woman
> To the spot young father
> To the spot hospital visit
> To the spot man on the train
> To the spot Old, but modern
> To the spot young couple
> To the Joint Exit spot

Responsible at the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH): Adrian Kammer (Campaign Manager FOPH), Albert Gemperle (Project Manager Tobacco Campaign). Responsible at By Heart/cR Communications: Stefan Batzli (Management, Strategy), Hans Siegwart (CD), Markus Bircher (Conception), Sonja Wolf (AD), Rolf Burkhard (Text), Peter Krebs (Client Service Direction), Vérène Gaillard Christen, Misha Gambetta (Consulting), Dominik Mory (Production Management), Natascha Breu (Realization), Thomas Perret (Web). Responsible at Encore Pictures: Simon Jaquemet (director), Jürg Steudler (producer), Simon Guy Fässler (camera), Peter Bräker (sound design), Niels Vije (casting & production management), Claudio Cea (editing). Postproduction: Analyze. Lab: EgliFilm.
Eke Miedaner, Rémy Steinegger (photos), RTK (lithos), Bart Wasem, LeMob (e-boards), Thomas Rüttimann, ZipMedia (media).