CHARITY

The Answer is Plain

Client: CRUK • Agency: AMV BBDO

A campaign for plain/standardised cigarette packaging—removing colourful branding and replacing it with standardised packs and prominent health warnings.

Directed by Finn McGough at Rogue, children aged 6–11 were shown cigarette packets and gave spontaneous reactions to the colours and designs. The film was intended to demonstrate that cigarette packaging could be attractive to children.

My role: Head of Post-Production / Executive Producer

Responsibilities: Ensured this project could be done in-house at the LAB (Part of AMV BBDO)

Project Scale: £10k

Outcome: The campaign gained around 90,000 supporters, including 78,000 petition signatures collected with Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). In 2015, the UK Government announced plans to introduce standardised tobacco packaging, and MPs subsequently voted in favour of the policy. From May 2017, it became illegal to sell branded cigarette packs in the UK.

Credits

Agency: AMV BBDO
Creative Team: Thiago de Moraes and Mark Fairbanks
Director: Finn McGough (Rogue Films)

Editor: Suzy Norton