Above: A turnstyle at the 14th Street - Union Square subway stop that advertisesOn March 30th, the NYC Health Department began a new campaign for targeting parents who smoke. The official press release points out the danger of smoking as it relates specifically to NYC parents:
About 400,000 New York City adults who smoke live with a child. Sadly, smoking takes the lives of 8,000 adults each year in the city, many of whom leave children behind. New Yorkers are urged to quit smoking and to call 311 if they need help.The campaign launch a television commercial that "features a young boy in a train station who has lost his mother. He is terrified and begins to cry. This painful moment shows the viewer how vulnerable a child is when a parent risks their life by continuing to smoke – and how scary the death of a parent would be." The commercial is a licensed version of one created months ago in Australia for quit.org.au:
You can see the entire campaign on nyc.gov/health.
As a part of the larger campaign, they feature turnstyle advertising, as shown above, in NYC subway stations. The ads are definitely eye-catching, as I've never seen this type of promotion. Furthermore, they feature a prominent comment: "Quit smoking today."
This is definitely a good cause. We'll have to wait to see if other advertisers start using this same medium in the future!
