An anti-smoking ad released in Ireland in early 2017 proved to be so popular it has been imported from across the Atlantic to run in New York this month.
The minute-long spot, “I Will Survive,” shows people lip-syncing to Gloria Gaynor’s famous 1978 song as they decide to quit smoking.
The advert was released by Ireland’s government health service, HSE, as part of its QUIT campaign.
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The spot, which was created by BBDO Dublin and produced by London-based 2AM films, won several awards at the Kinsale Sharks festival and the Epica Awards last year.
HSE said in a release: “Like real-life quitters, some people in the ad are in the moment of giving up, others are in a moment of truth around the effect smoking has had on their life. But all are defiant in the face of cigarettes and the harm they do. The advert uses the words and music of Gloria Gaynor’s much loved song ‘I Will Survive,’ which mirrors the feelings and stages many quitters go through on their journey to being free of cigarettes and is a celebration of being free from an unhealthy relationship.”
Fidelma Browne, head of programs and campaigns at the HSE, told AdFreak it was an honor to see the campaign cross the Atlantic.
“We’re excited and incredibly proud that the campaign has traveled in this way and hope that it can help do some good,” she says. “We are really proud of all our campaigns, but the QUIT campaign is one of our strongest, and has given us such a sense of achievement, seeing smoking prevalence drop year after year.”
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The New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Tobacco Control isn’t the only one that’s taken notice of the award-winning public service announcement.
“We’ve had lots of interest from international colleagues, in Australia, in other EU countries,” says Browne.
The smoking population of Ireland is down from 29 percent to 22 percent since 2007, ADWEEK reports. More than one million people living in Ireland have successfully quit smoking, meaning that, as the ad points out, there are now more ex-smokers than smokers in Ireland.
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