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Client: Washington State Department of Health
Creative Agency: Sedgwick Rd. and Seven2

"Gross" is the latest Washington State Department of Health effort to prevent youth from smoking. This campaign is designed to grab the attention of at-risk 12- to 14-year-olds, and to make them ponder the negative impacts of smoking.

Research indicates that youth are now very well educated on the health consequences of smoking and aware of various anti-smoking messages. In fact, they can rattle off numerous ways smoking negatively impacts the body. So Sedgwick Rd. determined a standard "smoking is bad for you" campaign simply wouldn't break through. 

Recognizing that this age group revels in the disgusting, we developed a campaign and website that make being gross the star. And because attractiveness and relationships are priorities for this age group, the "Kissing a Smoker is Just as Gross" line ties the entire campaign together. AshtrayMouth.com, created by Seven2, features gross galleries, downloadable wallpapers and icons, animated TV ads and a viral "Yuck Chuck Challenge" game. 

Dolls are the website's and overall campaign's main characters, providing arresting visuals and performing stunts that couldn't be done with live actors. These dolls demonstrate that smoking is as gross as a number of other things you would never consider doing.
-- Laura Burke, account supervisor, Sedgwick Rd.

Sedgwick Rd's anti-smoking site, AshtrayMouth.com, is friggin' weird. And I love it. I will speak for anyone who's kissed a heavy smoker (especially right after a cigarette), that it is absolutely disgusting. And that's what this site is all about. The doll imagery is so bizarre, but it just makes you want to interact with it even more. I'll admit that the full gist of the website didn't occur to me until I watched the TV spots, but then everything was clear. Who wants to kiss someone that tastes like a dead rat?
 
The game is fun, if not simple. I wish it played up the gross factor more, though. Dropping dead rats into a dolls mouth is addictive -- I never knew that. The downloads (icons, wallpapers, etc.) are hypnotic to look at. How many dolls with cockroaches in their mouths can you say that about?
 
Simple, effective, mesmerizing, poignant. This is a great microsite. I give it 4.5 out of 5 patches (.5 removed for not virally enabling the TV spots).
-- Ian Schafer, president, Deep Focus

Death. The “Yuck Yuck Challenge.” Cockroach-eating contests. Sound like the TV show “Fear Factor”? In fact, it’s Washington State Department of Health’s anti-smoking campaign site AshtrayMouth.com. Right now, I’m wiping the vomit off of my mouth from over-exposure of nasty images and video footage of dolls eating a dead mouse, cockroach or maggot-filled fish. The site is successful in thoroughly grossing out any and all visitors; however, it hits the wrong target audience -- non-smokers (me). As a non-smoker, it reinforces my disdain for smoking. For my smoker friends, the “gross” theme is too expected and they block it out or find the feeble attempt amusing.

On the positive side, the interactive element of the “Yuck Yuck Challenge” is brilliant. I was able to play the game solo and challenge my friend via automatic email to compete for the highest score. At the end of the challenge, it plays the tomato-throwing, sock-smelling, fish-head launching game back to both players and superimposes your doll head and name on the players. This game is truly unique, viral, fun and automatically brings friends into the fold. There is a lot of great interactive material to leverage in this site, but anti-smoking campaigns seem to be most effective when they are humorous and thought-provoking, like select ads in “the Truth” campaign.
-- Ryan Buchanan, president, eROI, Inc.