The TRUTH be told...

I love these commercials.  Working on my midterm got me thinking... Which ads do catch my attention?  These always get me, especially this one.  Animated mythological creatures singing about arsenic, two undoubtedly "cool" kids setting up a musical number in the park.  It makes you stop the channel flipping just long enough to realize its an anti-smoking campaign... and a good one at that. 

On being different...

This week in class we talked about "hard to reach" audiences.  I agree with the thought that this is a cop-out for those of us in public health (or any other marketing profession) who don't want to take the time to fully understand those that are different.  Being different and not deficient is talked about in everything from women's rights to elementary school classrooms.  The second grade student that is having trouble concentrating and can't sit still long enough to learn.  What do we do?  Put him in the hall or on Ritalin.  It's "easier" this way, instead of having to dig deeper to understand why it is this child is acting the way he or she does, in order to target the actual problem.  This thinking has to spread to public health marketing campaigns in order to actually reach audiences who need it most: Those that are different from the status quo.