“Truth” Infects Social Networking Sites
Anti-tobacco marketers are hoping that “truth” will make friends on a handful of social networking sites.
The American Legacy Foundation (ALF) extends its long-running “truth” ad campaign with profile pages on five social networking sites. The profiles on MySpace, Hi5, Bebo, Piczo and diary site Xanga accelerate the flight of “Infect truth” ads and viral marketing that began in late October.
This is the first time that ALF has used such highly viral Web sites to execute its fundamental strategy: Get teens to tell each other about the manipulation behind tobacco marketing. Until now, ALF has relied on summer tours and tie-ins with music festivals, including the Vans Warped Tour and the AND1 Mix Tape Tour to recruit teens to spread its message (PROMO Xtra, Aug. 2, 2006). In fact, tour staffers and fans who saw Truth’s orange truck at concerts have already been posting comments on Truth’s MySpace page.
The shift to online buzz helps ALF stretch its dwindling budget. The foundation was funded by tobacco marketer payments through 2003, as part of the 1998 Master Settlement agreement between the top tobacco companies and 46 states. ALF has been looking for alternative funding since then, including grants from states and corporate donors.
“With declining funds, truth seeks to put truth messages in non-traditional, easily accessible and effective mediums such as digital media, and further extend our life-saving campaign,” said Joseph Martyak, ALF’s executive vice president for marketing, communications and public policy, in a statement.
“Truth” pages on the social networking sites carry e-mail cards, wallpaper and, a first for the campaign, downloadable case covers for Sony PSP video game consoles. The same downloadable items are on truth’s own site, TheTruth.com.
That site also has a list of ingredients that kids can download as stickers and post on cigarette billboards and in-store signs. Another downloadable sticker, for milk cartons, quotes a tobacco company document that say drinking 1-2 glasses of whole milk is riskier than smoking. A separate feature, called 1nfect.com, lets users enter the URL on public computers (a bank of computers in a library, or at Kinko’s, for example) and the site disseminates anti-tobacco facts to the monitors of all computers in that network.
TheTruth.com has had nearly 57,000 downloads since the Oct. 23 launch of its latest viral marketing flight.
The new social networking pages also have information about the campaign, health stats about smoking, and details on tobacco marketing tactics. Banner ads on the sites offer some of the screensavers and TV spots from TheTruth.com for kids to share with friends to “infect” their social circle.
Meanwhile, new TV and print ads join the rotation of “truth” ads. The TV spots will also run on the MTV Billboard in Times Square through mid-February. Next to the billboard is a separate sign with a giant doorknob and the statement: “Tobacco kills enough people in two weeks to fill every hotel room in Times Square.” That sign will be up through January.
Ads will run through March via Arnold Worldwide, Boston, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami.
