The 2000 Why do You Keep on Running Boy? TV Ad was produced for the Health Education Board for Scotland. Serbia is now considering recycling it. A tribute to the impact of the music and the video :)
How Scots ads could soon be cutting smoking . . . in Serbia
June 09 2006
IT sparked something of a revolution when first aired in Scotland five years ago, even spawning a top 10 record.
The
anti-smoking advert featuring Stinx, a mock girl band, proved a
surprise underground hit, with young fans desperately downloading it
from a government website.
Now aficionados from an unlikely quarter – Serbia – have joined their ranks.
So
impressed were health officials when they saw it, they gave it a
standing ovation. Now the Serbian government is to ask Scots health
chiefs for permission to air it.
Crafted
in the style of a Spice Girls promo, the advert features three
glamorous pop princesses crooning in the style of Britney Spears.
But boys do not find them attractive because they are nicotine-stained and surrounded by tendrils of smoke.
It
became so popular when it was aired that its backers at The Health
Education Board for Scotland (Hebs), now NHS Health Scotland, released
its catchy song – Why do You Keep on Running Boy? – on CD.
Not
only did it hit number eight in the Scottish pop charts, the ad was
credited with contributing to a decline in smoking among young people
across the country.
This
is all good news for the Serbian authorities, who are in the midst of
rebuilding the country's health infrastructure. This includes tackling
the huge problem of smoking among young people.
The
advert was seen in Serbia after officials extended an invitation to
Martin Raymond and Ali O'Neale, Scots experts in health promotion, who
were at the heart of the Stinx campaign.
Ms
O'Neale, who now runs Cloudline, a PR and marketing agency, with Mr
Raymond, said: "The ads were translated through headphones to health
workers and government ministers and they gave it a standing ovation.
Prior to seeing the ads, Professor Snezana Simic, the assistant health
minister, was sitting very still but after she saw it she came running
over to us and said she must get her hands on the ad."
Serbia
has one of the worst smoking rates in Europe. Every second man and
every third woman smokes and 97% of children are exposed to second-hand
smoke.
Serbia also wants
to obtain another advert aired in Scotland showing the effects of
passive smoking. "It shows various non-smokers breathing in snaking
smoke. No-one speaks, so it's very translatable," said Ms O'Neale.
As
to why the ads proved such a hit with Serbians, Mr Raymond said: "We
noticed in Scotland that if you take an authoritarian approach to
people they will reject your messages. I think a more extreme version
of that culture exists in Serbia."
Brian
Potter, a Scots doctor in Serbia working on the EU-funded project to
improve its health strategy, said: "Everyone was very taken by the ads.
They were so different . . . innovative and exciting."
Pam
Hyder, head of communications for NHS Health Scotland, added: "The fact
our messages can be embraced by an international audience is testament
to Scotland's forward-thinking tobacco control policy."
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