Youth Reactions to Creative Advertising Concepts Designed to Reduce Tobacco Use among Multicultural Youth

Multicultural Youth Tobacco Prevention Campaign:

Pilot (Brand and Creative Concept Phase)

Preliminary Creative Concept Testing Stimuli

The following six preliminary ad concepts, or the equivalent of, will be tested as part of the Preliminary Creative Concept Testing exercise. Video storyboards will take the form of a series of still images with narrative voiceover.

Creative Ad Concept #1

Screenshot of video storyboard:

Scene description:

This concept opens with shots of a young boy in a low-rider car, another boy dressed up in Hip Hop attire with jewelry in a recording studio, a little girl dancing at a house party, and another little girl trying on clothes in the mirror. We start to see more shots of these young children, but now their older siblings appear in the scenes. A voiceover speaks about how younger siblings want to imitate their older siblings, and if the older sibling smokes, it increases the odds of the younger sibling picking up the habit.

SCRIPT: Your little brother. Your little sister. They want to be as fresh as you. If you smoke cigs, you increase the chances of them smoking.

The older siblings are now posed, looking straight into the camera together. Text appears on the screen to accompany the end tag.

SCRIPT: Represent freshness by representing tobacco-free Hip Hop.

Creative Ad Concept #2

Screenshot of video storyboard:

Scene description:

A Hispanic teen delivers a spoken word-style rap in front of a monochrome background. The images alternate between wide, medium, and tight shots as this Hip Hop teen splices Spanish words with English words to reach the Hispanic Hip Hop audience. Example from the script:

MALE: Why pick up a menthol, cigarillo, or Black. We’ve got enough struggle without addiction, muerte, disease, and all of that. So I call out those young and old looking for a way to be. Viva life. Viva music. Viva smokefree.

A “Viva Smokefree” graphic appears on the screen.

Creative Ad Concept #3

Screenshot of video storyboard:

Scene description:

This concept begins with a large group of teens in a concert venue. We see the area backstage where bands are loading their gear up a narrow staircase and begin setting up equipment. Guitars are being tuned. Microphones are being checked. We see the lead singer approach the stage and do a sound check.

We see the remaining band mates take the stage, so the crowd erupts and the pit begins to surge. The chugging riffs of the band begin and the vocalist grabs the microphone, the chord wrapped around his hands, and just as he opens his mouth to belt out the opening scream, he begins coughing harshly. We see the band stop, the crowd looks equally grossed out and stunned. We cut to an image of the teen host.

HOST: Okay, so maybe THAT’s never happened, but singers have to cancel shows and tours all the time because their throats get messed up. And sometimes it’s the damage that smoking does to the throat that shreds their vocals even more. So, it’s rad that so many singers are now proud to be smokefree.

Following words appear on screen: Help your body, your favorite bands, and your scene by being smokefree.

Creative Ad Concept #4

Screenshot of video storyboard:

Scene description:

An African American girl and her friend were approached by a male who is trying to ask them out. The African American female stops him short and begins to rhyme about how she can smell cigarettes on him.

FEMALE: Okay, okay. Yeah, you lookin’ fly right there I can’t deny, but, um, check this out girl. Do you smell this guy?

She proceeds to rip into the male with more lines about how his clothes and breath smell like cigarette smoke. She ends her rhyme by telling the male that she’s a part of the smokefree era. She takes her friend and exits the scene, leaving the male completely turned down.

A “Smokefree Era” graphic appears on the screen.

Creative Ad Concept #5

Screenshot of video storyboard:

Scene description:

One male and one female teenager sit closely on a couch as they watch a movie. Just as the male teenager leans in to kiss the female, a clone of the female appears in the foreground saying, “Hold up,” as she freezes time for the couple in the background. Then, she begins to weigh the pros and cons of kissing the boy.

FEMALE: Things have been going super smooth with this guy, but his breath is reeking. Real bad. He’s chewing gum but I can still smell the smoke coming up from his lungs. Even though he hasn’t been smoking around me, he still smells like it.

She then states her attraction to him saying, “That boy is fine.” But ultimately, she just cannot kiss him. We go back in to a tight shot of the couple. The boy continues his attempt to kiss the female, but she turns her face leaving him to kiss her cheek, which humiliates him and ruins the moment.

Following words appear on screen: Smokers’ breath. Proud sponsor of the cheek kiss.

Creative Ad Concept #6

Screenshot of video storyboard:

Scene description:

This concept presents the viewer with a montage of five different male teenagers. The spot is filmed as if the teens are holding the cameras themselves and making videos telling the online community what they find attractive in females. Script examples are below:

MALE 1: She’s got that smile. Ping!

Male 2: No craziness. None.

The males then segue into how they do not like and would not date females that smoke.

MALE 1: No smokers.

MALE 2: I don’t know. Smokefree girls just have it more together.

MALE 3: Number one, her teeth will be clean and her breath won’t reek.

MALE 4: Look, it’s simple. I want a girl that’s smokefree because I’m smokefree.

A collage is then put on the screen showing different teens with their handheld footage. A graphic is placed over that collage mirroring the following voiceover.

Following words appear on screen: Log onto (Facebook URL) to see what other people think is hot.

Creative Concepts Stimuli Page 6 of 6