TheTruth.com

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TheTruth.com is the official website for the organization Truth, an anti-smoking campaign funded by tobacco companies as a result of a class action lawsuit against them. Truth consists of a series of TV commercials and magazine advertisements. There is also a Truth Tour every year featuring live music, gear, and information.

Truth has produced a variety of advertising campaigns.

[edit] Formation

Truth was originally created in 1997 by advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky as part of a statewide anti-smoking initiative in Florida. In 1999, the campaign was taken to the national stage by the American Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit anti-smoking organization. Its ads are financed by the tobacco industry, stemming from an agreement between tobacco companies and state attorney generals in which large companies, in particular Phillip Morris, agreed to fund the ads. There is also a clause that states that Truth's advertising cannot "vilify" the tobacco companies, one that has been invoked to cause Truth to change its ads on a few occasions. [1]

[edit] Criticism

Truth has been criticized by some viewers for the manipulative quality of their ads. Some feel that Truth's campaigns are rather ineffective, as many of their ads focus on satire, which some see as potentially too subtle for convincing advertising. It is also thought by some that the campaigns are alienating and self-righteous. Many, even those who agree with the cause that Truth espouses, feel that they are advertising it in an improper way and are often guilty of the same kind of manipulation of which they accuse the tobacco industry.

At least one ad for The Truth contained major factual errors. The claim was put forth that the tobacco industry had targeted homeless people as a potential market under a plan called "Project SCUM" [Sub-Culture Urban Marketing]. The TV ads were pulled after it was shown that the paperwork they cited actually discussed marketing cigarettes to homosexuals (among other "non-mainstream" people), and was not called "Project SCUM". It is not clear whether The Truth made this up or was itself duped by a prevalent anti-smoking myth. Thetruth.com still makes a modified version of this claim which is slightly more accurate.

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