[QUOTE=brazil84]
I would imagine that young people don’t appreciate those commercials either and don’t really care too much about the tobacco industry itself. I would be really surprised if those commercials were effective at all. At least in terms of convincing young people not to smoke.]
[/QUOTE]
You can stop imagining. I’m sixteen. 
The first time I saw that ad, I knew for sure that Big Tobacco had to be behind that (well…they have been ordered to make a certain amount of anti smoking ads, right?) because it’s so asinine. It is precisely the kind of thing that would make a kid go out and smoke just out of spite. Even the character in the commercial thought it was pretty stupid.
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit]
The first time I saw that ad, I knew for sure that Big Tobacco had to be behind that (well…they have been ordered to make a certain amount of anti smoking ads, right?)
[/QUOTE]
The organization which produces the ads, the American Legacy Foundation, is a non-profit organization which is funded with money from the 1998 tobacco lawsuit, but is not actually owned or controlled by any of the tobacco companies.
Looking at the Foundations press release, I was surprised to see that a songwriter I never heard of, David Yazbek, was the songwriter. The “Typo” spot especially reminded me of something someone like Marc Shaiman would write.
[QUOTE=Cisco]
Did you ever see the commercial with “The Meth Song”? Link
. . . Yeah, they had to pull it off the air because too many people thought it was pro-meth.
[/quote]
Wow, people think turning into Howard Hughes is a good thing? People really are stupider than I thought!
This is a crowning achievement in advertising. It’s the supreme anti ad. Look at the jingle:
“they know the magical amount
enough to really hook ya
the magical amount
but not enough to hurt”
Neat, memorable and it makes you think there’s not enough in a cigarette to actually kill you. Great, great advertising.
In fact I’ll bet every person associated with The Truth is awesome enough to smoke Marlboro Reds. With the filters broken off.
They’re that tough.
[QUOTE=bubble pop electric]
I WANTED TO GO OUT AND INHALE 3 PACKS OF UNFILTERED NEWPORT 100’S AND BLOW THE SMOKE INTO THE FACE OF A NEWBORN BABY WITH ASTHMA.
[/QUOTE]
Always wondered which brand to pick for maximum baby destruction.
[QUOTE=El Cid Viscoso]
Neat, memorable and it makes you think there’s not enough in a cigarette to actually kill you. Great, great advertising.
[/QUOTE]
It’s just weird that they would, in fact, say “not enough to hurt” when it’s an ad AGAINST smoking. Uh…I thought the point was that smoking is EVIL and that cigarettes were full of HURTY chemicals.