Andy Roberts, Senior Manager, Call Quality and Satisfaction:
Jon Lovett manages a tobacco shop in Hutchinson, Kansas and his current advertising campaign is drawing some media attention. The billboard outside his store reads: SMOKING REALLY IS COOL.
He says that business is up. Some residents say there’s nothing cool about smoking and Mr. Lovett is irresponsible to advertise it as such. Others say he’s simply expressing his 1st Amendment right to free speech. I say kudos to Mr. Lovett for bypassing the slick and subtly manipulative advertising campaigns that have made billions for Big Tobacco and getting right to the point. Who needs focus groups, market research and glossy, full-color magazine layouts when you’ve got a catchy one-liner? One of the nasty by-products of living in a free society is that we sometimes get exposed to personally offensive or disagreeable content. Deal with it.
Smoking is cool. Opening a new pack is like unwrapping a gift that arrives daily, not just on birthdays or holidays. Peel off the cellophane, open the flip top box, remove the foil insert and expose those 20 fresh treats. Dressed in their crisp white outfits and aligned in 3 neat rows. You’ve got your own little platoon in the palm of your hand to help you tackle the demands of the day. What power. There are lighters that don’t blow out when it’s windy, shiny metal carrying cases, and the badge of honor that comes from bucking the system and going against the grain. Come on, that’s cool.
Oh, but like some of the undesirable by-products of the 1st Amendment (AM talk radio), expressing your coolness by smoking carries some undesirable by-products of its own (heart disease, emphysema, cancer). I suppose medical staff still dress in crisp white outfits and will be there to help you tackle the demands of living with a chronic illness. And oxygen tanks come in shiny carrying cases. Power? Well, you can’t have it all.
Nicotine addiction thrives on the kind of short-sided, consequences-be-damned kind of thinking that Mr. Lovett advertises. Yes, smoking does provide short term gratification; however, the long term consequences are just as real. But you’ll quit before that day comes, right?
Mr. Lovett, if you ever change your position, there is a simple solution that wouldn’t add any expense to your advertising budget. You could simply rearrange the letters to read: SMOKING REALLY IS LOCO.