14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration announced a new anti-smoking campaign targeting minority teens. Dubbed Fresh Empire, this anti-smoking crusade is somewhat of a first for the agency.
You see, it's not your usual “smoking is seriously bad for you, so you'd better quit while you've still got your health” kind of campaign. Rather, it's a hip-hop one. That's right, Fresh Empire is all about making not smoking look cool. Way cooler than smoking, that is.
“Are you the CEO of independence in your life?”
The US Food and Drug Administration has been battling smoking for years now. This time, it's set its mind on reducing or maybe even eliminating this nasty habit among multicultural teens.
It's ordered a bunch of studies and found that, while not all minority teenagers listen to hip-hop and identify with the hip-hop move, smoking is most common among those who do. This is partly because it's these young folks who are most often targeted by pro-tobacco messages and images.
The Administration figured it might as well try and fight fire with fire, and so the Fresh Empire hip-hop anti-smoking campaign was born. Its goal: make not smoking look cooler than smoking.
Health concerns aside, cigarettes have this habit of taking over people's lives. Nicotine is addictive, and so, when they become hooked, people find themselves counting the hours until they can light up again. Many times, cigarettes are the first thing they look for in the morning, to go with their coffee.
Assuming that the hip-hop culture comes down to personal freedom, here's the slogan the Administration proposed for Fresh Empire: “Are you the CEO of independence in your life?”
“Fresh Empire's messaging reflects hip-hop ideals such as being authentic, powerful, confident, fashionable, creative and trend-setting,” the Administration explains the campaign.
“The ads are intended to deliver tobacco education in a manner that is straightforward and relevant to hip-hop youth who relate to values such as working hard to achieve success and attaining or regaining control,” the agency goes on to detail how this latest anti-smoking move should work.
Will the campaign succeed or is it doomed to fail?
Let's be honest here, the US Food and Drug Administration doesn't exactly come across as free and easy or even remotely cool. Rather, most people inadvertently identify it with suited folks walking around talking about boring, sciency things.
Plainly put, this hip-hop anti-smoking campaign kind of clashes with the Administration's image. So, rather than convince teenagers not to take up smoking or quit if they already have a soft spot for cigarettes, Fresh Empire might backfire and get youth to start smoking just to, you know, stick it to the agency.
After all, the hip-hop culture isn't among the federal government's most devoted fans, and the Food and Drug Administration is a federal agency. Therefore, Fresh Empire might come across as forced and consequently fail to make a difference.
These are all valid points, and yet the Food and Drug Administration argues that, although having the campaign succeed is not a guarantee, focus group testing strongly suggests that it will.
“We know from our research that remaining in control is an important pillar of hip-hop culture. But smoking represents a loss of control, so tobacco use is actually in conflict with that priority,” explains Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products.
Well, we'll just have to wait and see if the agency got it right. Not to rain on its parade, but I for one doubt it. I've watched some of the ads, and they don't look very convincing. More like eyebrow-raising, and not in a good way.
The campaign is set to officially launch this Monday, October 12, with the hip-hop anti-smoking ads being released just in time for the 2015 BET Hip-Hop Awards on October 13. The ads, some of which you'll find below, are all available on the Fresh Empire website.
