Arnold contributes to hair-razing anti-smoking campaign

The latest antismoking TV ad from a team that includes Boston advertising agency Arnold Worldwide features a singing cowboy who removes his bandanna to reveal a hole from a laryngectomy, then uses a hand-held electronic voice box to help him sing, "You don't always die from tobacco."

An online component of this campaign includes the website hairy-mail.com, where users can send e-cards written on a hairy man's back. The point? The same caustic compound found in hair-removal products, sodium hydroxide, is also in cigarettes.

The client is the American Legacy Foundation, which launched its "truth" campaign in 2000 to discourage young people from smoking.

The content for the latest phase of the truth campaign was created by a team comprised of Arnold and Miami ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Last week, the American Legacy Foundation and its website, found.thetruth.com, won the first-ever Public & Community Service Emmy Award for Broadband and Portable Delivery. Arnold created the site.

(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)