Viral campaign uses dark humour to educate smokers

Saatchi and Saatchi X has launched a viral campaign for Quit to raise awareness about lung health and drive smokers to call the charity's dedicated Quitline.

The campaign will be spearheaded by three 15-second animated films, the first of which will go live on 11 February 2010.

The films, which depict darkly comic animations of 'Loony Lungs' willingly throwing themselves into increasingly dangerous situations, will be supported by a range of activities including experiential and ambient marketing.

As part of the campaign, the 'Loony Lungs' will be appearing in cities across the UK at key sites, such as pubs, cafes and near London Underground stations.

By using humour to highlight the futility of smoking and the damage it does to the lungs, the campaign aims to inspire people to stop smoking for good, starting with an initial call to Quitline.

The campaign was brought to life with illustration and animation by Jelly.

Ant Melder, creative director at Saatchi and Saatchi X, said: 'In our work with Quit, we've found that a lecturing approach is easy for smokers to ignore.

'For this campaign, we've used dark humour to grab their attention while keeping an extremely serious message at the core of the communication.

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