The Anti-Smoking Campaign - Fear Factor

http://www.hpb.gov.sg/smoking/quittingishard/english.htm
Health Board: AD STOPS SMOKING Media expert: STOP AD, IT'S STUPID
FRIGHTFUL BUT FAKE: Girl in quit-smoking ad turns out to be model
By Ng Hui Hui
The New Paper, Sat 31 March, 2007

FIRST, it received flak for being shown on television during prime time.
Then, word started circulating that the 'victim' in the commercial - a woman with decayed teeth and blisters on her lips - could be a model whose face was made-up to drive home the effects of smoking-related cancer.
Yesterday, campaign organisers Health Promotion Board (HPB) confirmed that the woman in the commercial is indeed a model engaged by advertising firm DDB Singapore.
DDB won the tender for the board's latest anti-smoking campaign. The ad firm and the HPB declined to provide details about her.
Has the latest tactic to scare smokers into giving up backfired?
The news made some people question the authenticity and effectiveness of the commercial.
Mr Kevin Tan, 26, a smoker, feels it made the campaign ineffective as 'I don't think it will happen to me'.
'How many smokers actually end up in that awful state? I haven't seen anyone like that,' the civil servant said.

PLAY ON FEAR
Associate Professor Lee Chun Wah, from Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, told The New Paper that a public communication campaign should aim to provide adequate information and have 'persuasive appeal'.
Assoc Prof Lee specialises in marketing communication and advertising management.
He said the current anti-smoking commercial 'lacks information and wickedly plays on the audience's sense of fear'.
'It's mis-shot as it is not convincing,' he said. 'I'm not a smoker, but if I were one, this commercial will not make me stop the habit.'
His opinion is that HPB is 'naive to think that scare tactics would work in this context'.
'It has to give true accounts based on accurate portrayals,' he added.
Undergraduate Gavin Ng, 26, who quit smoking after seven years, said HPB's campaigns didn't play a part in helping him quit.
HPB first introduced graphic warnings on cigarette boxes in August 2004.
Cigarette boxes now carry gory images such as diseased gums, a dying baby and a brain oozing blood. Other countries such as Canada, Brazil and Australia do the same.
Mr Ng said: 'I ignored all the posters and gory images on the cigarettes boxes. It was easy to avoid them - I used a cigarette case.
'At the end of the day, I quit because my girlfriend wanted me to. Without her, I would most probably have continued smoking.'
HPB's chief executive officer Lam Pin Woon said that it was a 'big challenge' to get a patient suffering such symptoms to be involved in the production of the advertisement.
'Often, these patients have more crucial matters and issues on their minds, like coping with the disease and painful chemotherapy treatment,' he explained.
However, he reassured the public that the mouth cancer depiction in the advertisement was based on 'extensive consultations with doctors and reference to actual photos of mouth cancer patients'.
HPB said using a model will not adversely impact the effectiveness of the campaign.
Since the launch of the ad campaign, the board's toll-free QuitLine (1800-438 2000) has seen a five-fold jump in the number of calls.
There has also been a 'significant increase' in the number of callers who are asking for advice to quit smoking, MrLam said.
Bank officer Ms Wen Ling, 24, said: 'Nowadays, when I smoke, I do think of the advertisement. And I will make a conscious effort to smoke less. But it's hard to quit completely.'
Others remained concerned about the graphic nature of the advertisement.
The 30-second TV commercial, which began its run on all the four main language channels last week, was aired on prime time. Parents complained that kids were traumatised by the images. Adults were also riled.
Auditor Daphne Woon, 27, said: 'I was having dinner when I first saw it. I lost my appetite immediately. I think they have gone overboard in trying to scare people not to smoke. My mother was horrified too.'
HPB has responded to the complaints by rescheduling the commercials to air after 8pm.
Advertisement billboards close to childcare centres, primary schools and other areas near children will not be used.