Post by jefflint on Oct 1, 2014 8:28:46 GMT -5
The Truth is an anti-smoking campaign, brainchild of efforts from the American Legacy Foundation. The American Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit, was actually formed and funded by massive financial assistance from Big Tobacco companies, even though they didn’t want it. They have a heavy presence on social media, with accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus and YouTube. Most of their accounts have many followers and likes, and interaction is happening at a rapid pace. In this discussion, I’m going to highlight their use of Instagram, under the handle @truthorange and their YouTube which is under the same name.
The reason it is @truth orange instead of another namesake is because of a current massive campaign under way about quitting smoking. Users can post pictures of them smoking, or not smoking cigarettes with a large orange X over their faces or the picture. Using the hashtag “#finishit” they can post these photos to Instagram and other platforms. With over 1,200 posts and 12,000 plus followers, the reach for this campaign is pretty far. If you do a quick Iconosquare search of the #finishit hashtag, you will find over 13,000 tags of people smoking or, presumably, used to smoke. Some are using the big orange X, and others are not, but either way it is a great visual representation of the message The Truth campaign is trying to send. Claims on their website say they have helped lower teen smoking from 23 percent in 2000 to 9 percent now.
Their other major visual social media platform would have to be YouTube, with their top video having over 1.6 million views, and that is a lot of exposure. But all good things must have some opponents. The Truth and their American Legacy Foundation parents have gotten slammed over that most viewed commercial. It shows a bunch of paparazzi pictures of celebrities with text saying “unpaid tobacco spokesperson” and calls them the new “faces of big tobacco.” The number of views on YouTube alone is great, and coupled with exposure of the video on other media channels, awareness is high. Some people feel differently, however, with Ad Age calling the whole campaign “a hot mess.” Even Al-Jazeera had something to say about the most recent campaign, but they showed it in a much better light than the Ad Age article.
Either way you look at it, a foundation that is spending its money to end smoking is going to need something bold. These campaigns might have been then the catalyst needed to drive engagement and start conversation, and the controversial video did just that.
The reason it is @truth orange instead of another namesake is because of a current massive campaign under way about quitting smoking. Users can post pictures of them smoking, or not smoking cigarettes with a large orange X over their faces or the picture. Using the hashtag “#finishit” they can post these photos to Instagram and other platforms. With over 1,200 posts and 12,000 plus followers, the reach for this campaign is pretty far. If you do a quick Iconosquare search of the #finishit hashtag, you will find over 13,000 tags of people smoking or, presumably, used to smoke. Some are using the big orange X, and others are not, but either way it is a great visual representation of the message The Truth campaign is trying to send. Claims on their website say they have helped lower teen smoking from 23 percent in 2000 to 9 percent now.
Their other major visual social media platform would have to be YouTube, with their top video having over 1.6 million views, and that is a lot of exposure. But all good things must have some opponents. The Truth and their American Legacy Foundation parents have gotten slammed over that most viewed commercial. It shows a bunch of paparazzi pictures of celebrities with text saying “unpaid tobacco spokesperson” and calls them the new “faces of big tobacco.” The number of views on YouTube alone is great, and coupled with exposure of the video on other media channels, awareness is high. Some people feel differently, however, with Ad Age calling the whole campaign “a hot mess.” Even Al-Jazeera had something to say about the most recent campaign, but they showed it in a much better light than the Ad Age article.
Either way you look at it, a foundation that is spending its money to end smoking is going to need something bold. These campaigns might have been then the catalyst needed to drive engagement and start conversation, and the controversial video did just that.
