Tobacco ads target teens in song

The youth smoking prevention campaign "truth," created with input from the Boston ad agency Arnold, has launched a "ReMix" project on its website that features songs with anti-tobacco messages.

"Songs from the current truth advertising campaign will be getting a new twist this summer when nine innovative and well-known DJs and bands put new spins on the songs by re-mixing them in styles from house and hip-hop to electro," the American Legacy Foundation said.

The foundation was created as a result of a 1998 settlement agreement between the tobacco industry and a coalition of many state attorneys general. Using money from that settlement, the foundation hired Arnold to lead a roster of ad agencies to develop creative ideas for the truth smoking prevention campaign, which debuted in 2000.

The latest iteration of that campaign is called the "Sunny Side of truth," and the "Sunny Side" music ReMix phase of that campaign, which launched yesterday, features such DJs and bands as Cobra Starship, Diplo, Kaskade, and Mix Master Mike (shown at right in a photo from his website), the foundation said.

Although playful and upbeat in tone, the songs convey a strong anti-tobacco message, the foundation said. The plan is to make this music available on websites that teens frequent, including websites accessible by cellphone.

Songs can be heard on the truth's website as well as on such sites as MySpace.com and Facebook.com, the foundation said.

Plans call for additional ReMix podcasts to roll out every two weeks through early October, and starting at the end of July, songs will be available for download from iTunes and other digital distribution sites such as Amazon.com, said the foundation, which added that teens will also be able to share ReMixes on their cellphones by using a special widget.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)