Tobacco Counteradvertising by Kids

The term “counteradvertising” has been used in tobacco control to mean many things. In its broadest sense, it refers to the dissemination of tobacco control messages through the media. These messages run counter to pro-tobacco advertisements employed by tobacco companies—hence, the expression “counteradvertising.” Counteradvertising can occur via the same media as pro-tobacco advertising—namely, in print publications (magazines, newspapers, etc.), in outdoor media (billboards, transit ads), in broadcast media (television and radio), over the Internet, by direct mail, and through promotional techniques such as sponsorship of sporting and entertainment events.

Counteradvertising has also been used to refer to strategies that more directly oppose pro-tobacco messages, especially through parody. The organization “Doctors Ought to Care” (DOC) was a pioneer in developing counterads that parody tobacco ads. In a 1980 paper published in JAMA, DOC founder Alan Blum, MD, wrote,

DOC has found that humor can be an effective tool. In one of its poster series, DOC parodies the classic “I smoke for taste” advertisement with a picture of a similarly defiant, macho character with a cigarette dangling from one nostril and the caption, “I smoke for smell.”

Another form of what might be called confrontational counteradvertising is a demonstration against a live event sponsored by tobacco companies or tobacco products. Well-known examples include the many demonstrations—or “house calls”—sponsored by DOC and other groups at Virginia Slims tennis tournaments.

Artist Bonnie Vierthaler at The BADvertising Institute has produced more than 70 counterads by “doctoring-up tobacco ads to make them honest.” As her website points out, “By juxtaposing silly, gross and disgusting images on top of deceitful ads, we jolt people into realizing how tobacco ads are concealing the truth.” Her version of the ad for the “New crush-proof box” for Merit cigarettes features a large wooden casket.

Some advocacy groups and individual activists have taken counteradvertising one step further, by using civil disobedience techniques. The Australian group Billboard Utilising Graffists Against Unhealthy Promotions (BUGA UP) spray-painted graffiti on tobacco billboards, often attempting to change advertising slogans to truthful messages. Thus, “Marlboro” became “it’s a bore,” and “Gold [cigarettes] is the perfect mixer” became “Cancer is the perfect fixer.” The cover and cover essay of the Autumn 1996 issue of the journal Tobacco Control were devoted to “Civil disobedience and tobacco control” and the story of BUGA UP. That essay mentions similar graffiti activities that followed in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.

Children and adolescents are particularly creative in developing tobacco counterads. DOC was sponsoring “ad-spoof” contests more than two decades ago. The winning entry in a DOC competition among school children in Iowa was published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 1983. Booklets containing artwork from ad-spoof contests were published by Smokefree Educational Services, Inc. in 1991 (Kids Say Don’t Smoke) and by Washington DOC in 1995 (Keep Our World Tobacco Free).

The Wayne County Medical Society Foundation conducted an ad-spoof contest among several schools in the Detroit area in 2002, with funding from the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan. The Foundation published a booklet, WCMSF Kids Campaign Against Tobacco, containing artwork from that contest in May 2003. The Wayne County project provided funding to support development of this website. This site focuses on tobacco counteradvertising by kids, although it does include some information on counteradvertising activities by adults and organizations. We hope the resources provided here will help tobacco control advocates develop counteradvertising projects and competitions in their own communities and states.

We welcome comments and suggestions on how to enhance this website. Please direct your comments and suggestions to Amanda L. Holm, MPH, Project Manager, aholm1@hfhs.org.

Acknowledgment: Dr. Ron Davis developed the initial content on this website in May 2003. Dr. Davis is director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, and is a member of the American Medical Association’s Board of Trustees. He serves as project co-director for the tobacco counteradvertising contest co-sponsored by the Wayne County Medical Society Foundation and Henry Ford Health System..