Anti-Smoking PSA

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Ad Council Anti-Smoking PSA Project

(BYU-Idaho)

For this project, I was tasked with creating a 3-part ad campaign in association with the Ad Council. The topic was left up to me, and as I have many family members who have smoked for many years, I chose to do an anti-smoking PSA campaign.

Now, I know that many people who smoke understand the consequences of doing so. No one I know that smokes wants to be doing it, but they are unable to quit at this point. Many of them have tried many times to quit smoking, but the task just feels impossible to them. So, rather than make a PSA about the dangers of smoking, I chose to break down the process of quitting smoking into manageable chunks to make it feel less impossible and more doable.

I decided to make my ads look like a specific brand of cigarette that was recognizable, specifically Marlboro brand cigarettes. they line the counters of every smoke shop, supermarket smoke counter, and gas station. Everyone who smokes definitely knows what they are, and may have tried them. I chose this brand's imagery because of it's recognizability, as well as because it is the brand mostly smoked by my family.

The design didn't start there, in fact it was only through the input of my wife, classmates, and a teacher or two that it really got where it is now. And, in fact, it seems like it was meant to be. It's simple and straightforward, and why wouldn't it be. Quitting smoking is already so complicated and difficult that adding an advertisement that was just as frustrating would only make it worse.

So, without further ado, the final products, as well as a mockup of them being displayed on a city wall.