• by John Gaffney , August 7, 2002

Kids Should Be Seen And Heard:What a brilliant idea. If you want to know how to use advertising to decrease smoking among kids, why not ask kids? Hey, I didn’t think that idea would work either, when I first heard it. I was never a smoker, but if you asked me how to advertise the fact that I shouldn’t drink beer when I was 17, I’d have cooked up some kind of wiseass response. But apparently kids are to be trusted when it comes to anti-tobacco ads. After the government admitted it whiffed on its initiative, The Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation decided it would go right to the target audience for some tips. What the kids told them was: “Give me a reason to rebel.” Turns out that if not smoking can be positioned as an act against an unhealthy and exploitive culture, kids will buy in. Forget “just say no. ” In Ohio it’s “poor, black and stupid. That’s what tobacco companies think of you.” That’s the ticket. Give them something to be angry about, not something to be afraid of. That always worked for me. Still does, unfortunately.

I Get Delirious:Am I the only one who noticed the Chevy Corvette billboard at the approach to NYC’s Triboro Bridge that quotes: “Little Red Corvette? ” And I thought Prince was way above the corporate marketing hype. “Baby you’re much too fast,” says the billboard, which floats behind the bumper of a red Corvette.

More Offense From Martha: Yesterday, the PR firm for Martha Stewart’s lawyer informed the press that said lawyers informed Commerce Committee chairman Billy Tauzin, that La Martha would cooperate with documentation of her stock dealings. No way, said La Martha’s lawyers, is she going to appear before the committee. Bad move, I say. Martha’s personal presence would do a lot to get thing behind her and more importantly, behind her media division.