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Health

Is This One of the Best or Worst Anti-Smoking Ads You’ve Seen?

Mar. 21, 2013 1:50pm

The Ontario office of Canada’s Ministry of Health has released a new anti-smoking ad that is bound to invoke strong opinions. The campaign, commonly referred to as “Social Farting,” has actors passing gas in social situations while using the same language that “social smokers” use to justify their habit of lighting up only when they are at parties or out at a club.

Canadian Anti Smoking ad Features Social Farting

Image: YouTube

There’s even a scene in the short PSA where a girl uses “social farting” to make a connection with a shy guy.

Canadian Anti Smoking ad Features Social Farting

Image: YouTube

The ad was directed by the well known commercial directors, the Pelorian Brothers, for the Toronto offices of the advertising agency BBDO. The Ontario Ministry of Health’s official title for this campaign is called “Quit The Denial.” However, the PSA has gone viral online and is affectionately called the “Social Farting” ad by most who are forwarding, “liking” it on Facebook or Tweeting it to friends.

Take a look:

TheBlaze has reached out to Ontario’s Health Minister Deb Matthews for comment, but has not yet made contact with our neighbors to the North.

Things have certainly changed in the way government’s try to encourage people to stop smoking. In the late 1960s, a campaign called, “Like Father, Like Son” was very memorable in the lesson it taught parents who smoked in front of their children.

Do you find the smoking ad funny, offensive, or just “eh”?

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Comments (81)

1 2
  • idahoccw
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 5:03pm

    Farts smell so deaf people can enjoy them too.

    Report this comment

    idahoccw  
    • spirited
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 7:33pm

      That ‘always’ made the classroom roar. -lol

      :^> As did the question about lumps.

      Report this comment

      spirited  
    • Disgusted_150
      Posted on March 22, 2013 at 2:49pm

      Ha! A stupid/funny ad I didn’t pay for! Sorry Canadians…but thank you. Stupid that the government needs to tell people that smoking is bad for you, but not their place…unless they want to run your healthcare…and the people of that country let them…personal responsibility anyone? Funny ad though.

      Report this comment

      Disgusted_150  
  • Michelle_Baboonbutt
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:54pm

    Ah, the 60′s. Holy masacre Batman, that kid had a water pistol! Time to call in protective services before he drowns someone.

    Report this comment

    Michelle_Baboonbutt  
  • Proverbs17-12NLT
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:54pm

    If you don’t know the consequences of smoking or AIDS your probably a democrat.

    Report this comment

    Proverbs17-12NLT  
    • Solidspine
      Posted on March 22, 2013 at 8:44am

      What does AIDs have to do with Smoking cigarettes? Doesn’t a person have the right, get it the right

      to do things he enjoys, maybe he enjoys smoking cigarettes, you don’t have a right to tell him not to. Sorry

      Report this comment

      Solidspine  
  • kadster01
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:53pm

    Ordinarily, I think farts are hilarious, but not when it’s used to be preachy and self-righteous. Lame…

    Report this comment

    kadster01  
    • ltb
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 7:16pm

      There’s just something seriously wrong with what you wrote, but it made me laugh.

      Report this comment

      ltb  
    • spirited
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 7:38pm

      Knowing how ‘kids’ are.
      Those will probably become the new norm party.

      Instead of calling out “party”,
      it’ll be
      (yes, you guessed it)

      ;^>***** Party

      Note: Imagine being a teen these days. ROTFLMBO-Fting.

      Report this comment

      spirited  
    • spirited
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 7:41pm

      F@r+y

      Report this comment

      spirited  
  • Vic Tory
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:51pm

    Farts. They are $h1t without the mess.

    Report this comment

    Vic Tory  
  • Vickie Dhaene
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:42pm

    I had an Aunt that lived in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario Canada, never smoked a cigarette in her life and died of LUNG CANCER.

    Report this comment

    Vickie Dhaene  
    • Vic Tory
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:52pm

      And I had an Aunt who died of colon cancer. Never farted once.

      Report this comment

      Vic Tory  
    • AMERICA4EVER
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:55pm

      I too knew numerous people who died of lung cancer and never smoked. Some too after they had quit for many years. The biggest shock I had was a friend who died at 45 years old after going cold turkey from drinking and smoking. He died about 5 years later. I’ll stick to my pipe.

      Report this comment

      AMERICA4EVER  
    • kadster01
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:56pm

      LOL at Vic Tory.

      I HAVE an uncle who chain-smoked filterless cigarettes for over half his life (so far). He’s in his mid-eighties now and healthy as a horse.

      Report this comment

      kadster01  
    • Toltepeceno
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 5:40pm

      When younger in the service (70′s) I drove drunk many times and never got a ticket or had an accident. That means nobody ever gets a ticket or has an accident, right?

      Report this comment

      Toltepeceno  
    • 19RANDY59
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 6:53pm

      I drank and drove for years. Never had a problem. Quit drinking, and 2.5 yrs. later, was riding my Harley, sober, and got hit by a sober guy, and lost my leg. Does anyone keep stats on how many alcohol related accidents are caused by the sober driver???

      Report this comment

      19RANDY59  
    • noslave
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 8:50pm

      gee i had a friend didnt smoke or drink,got hit by a bus became road pizza,like hillary “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE NOW?

      Report this comment

      noslave  
    • AMERICA4EVER
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 9:13pm

      I do like my pipe and since I have smoked it for years, I hate the smell of cigarettes. It seems to be genetic how who gets smoking related diseases. My father-in-law smoked all his life and drank till the day he died when he was 91. He ate eggs and bacon every morning. When he was in his 80′s I was still getting him out of the bars. All of his siblings lived into their 90′s and he was the baby of the family. I ask my doctor if they are studying people like that and he said they were. I still think there is so much money being made in the drug industry that there is no hurry to come up with preventative medicine. Using the old adage, you mean we can put a man on the moon, but we can’t cure cancer? I do not trust them. My doctor told me, if aspirin was invented today it would be $30.00 a tablet.

      Report this comment

      AMERICA4EVER  
  • chattin
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:16pm

    This was one of my favorite PSA ads:
    http://youtu.be/knhuH4hNf7c

    Report this comment

    chattin  
  • Southernsoul
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:15pm

    No, the dumbest anti-smoking commercials are the ones where they show the ultra extreme examples where people have horrible disfigurations. I grew up in the 60′s and 70′s and knew lots of people who smoked. None of them had any of those issues. My mother was proud of herself when she got DOWN to a pack a day. Her toes never fell off.

    Report this comment

    Southernsoul  
  • freedentstheone
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:06pm

    Terrance and Phillip approved of this message.

    Report this comment

    freedentstheone  
  • MyThoughtsAreFree
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:31pm

    eh

    Report this comment

    MyThoughtsAreFree  
  • SERE
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:27pm

    I quit smoking, quit drinking and started working out every day about 5-6 years ago. I lost 80 pounds and have not been sick a single day since quitting smoking specifically (Mar 2007).

    No more colds, no more “flu-like” symptoms, no more coughing and hacking.

    Dumb commercial, but the average American is a moron cartoon watcher so they are playing to the audience.

    Report this comment

    SERE  
    • stevew8805
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:42pm

      That is awesome. I just started my journey to do those same things

      Report this comment

      stevew8805  
    • Newtowns-Third-Law
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 6:54pm

      Same here – its been 8 years, started on the big 50. I started in April, and that first year I put $5 in a drawer every day after I quit and at Christmas I gave an envelope to each of my kids and grand kids with a fiver for each year of their lives ($115 to the 23-year old, etc.), because it reminded me of all the cash I had wasted in good times and bad while they were growing up.

      It didn’t take a clever Gummint-paid ad, though, just a mirror and a clear mind.

      Report this comment

      Newtowns-Third-Law  
  • gobluebuckeye
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:08pm

    Speaking of smoking, give me a minute I will be right back.

    Report this comment

    gobluebuckeye  
  • Stoneez
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:08pm

    Every time a democrat is in office the psa’s are literally EVERYWHERE! Stupida$$ Ad Council

    Report this comment

    Stoneez  
  • afishfarted
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:05pm

    boy oh boy, What memories that ’60′s ad brings back. Nothin’ like lightin’ up that first smoke with dad. Great times

    Report this comment

    afishfarted  
  • media-bias-steals-elections
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:48pm

    In America, you are not going to have a choice? That’s what Obama Care (disclaimer he did not write it, Democrats dusted this off and pulled it out of a drawer?)? Mandatory visits to the doctor, or get PUNISHED you little wretch? HOW DARE YOU not visit the doctor, we’ve been monitoring the social media, we watch every thing you do and say?

    Fine, you want $600 for me not to go to the doctor and get “preventative care” when I can’t even see what’s in your under writing databases, that’s a small price to pay? How many of you older people are going to loose their employment with this kind of nanny care? Older people have more to loose, they usually have something to protect in bankruptcy – they are sitting ducks under Obama Care? Take a medical exam that says you are a greater risk, and your employer lets you go?

    Employers are going to get higher bills when your “risk factors” go up? In an ideal world, yes, going to the doctor could save lives with preventative care? Americans do not live in an ideal world, they live in a world where doctors will kill babies for money? After you practice killing babies, killing adults will become second nature?

    Doctors and their oaths are meaningless, just like politicians, who swear to defend the US Constitution? We can fix this, but young people need to start speaking up, young people need to understand what danger they are in, when we send public tax dollars to support the religion of Islam?

    Report this comment

    media-bias-steals-elections  
    • ruoncrack
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 10:21pm

      Do you understand the underlying purpose of the question mark? That one was used correctly.

      Report this comment

      ruoncrack  
  • ACTIONNOTTALK
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:33pm

    Did you see that? A *gun* in that 1967 PSA. Not only that, in the hands of a child! Where was Social Services? That child is just one step from squirt gun to *assault rifle*, killing his parents, and smoking, too.

    Report this comment

    ACTIONNOTTALK  
    • chattin
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 4:12pm

      I noticed that! And the little boy actually shot it at his Dad and his Dad just smiled like that was cute.
      The times they are a changing eh?

      Report this comment

      chattin  
  • KickinBack
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:27pm

    I thought anti-smoking ads were supposed to make people (especially kids) think twice before lighting up…much like the ’60s ad. Not have them laughing their heads off.

    Report this comment

    KickinBack  
  • TJexcite
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:17pm

    Ridicule is another form of nudge but smoking is worth nudging if that is all they do. Works for social drinking and social drug use.

    Best PSA where still Not even once Anti-Meth ads.

    Report this comment

    TJexcite  
  • STREBOR
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:16pm

    A bit off topic: Who pays for the damage to my property from those Canadian rockets slamming over the border every day?

    Report this comment

    STREBOR  
    • termyt
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:31pm

      Unfortunately, you do. Part of being an “illegal settler” on the disputed border area. Don’t worry, the US military will attack those rocket sites any time now.

      Report this comment

      termyt  
  • Sargeking
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:15pm

    Was this PSA really necessary? I mean, who doesn’t know about smoking and have their own opinion one way or the other by now? What’s next, a PSA on don’t drive wearing a blindfold or eat the barrel of a loaded revolver”? “Oh Canada”! Isn’t that what they always ask before a big public event?

    Report this comment

    Sargeking  
  • STREBOR
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:14pm

    I’ve met girls at many Toronto “fart parties”. They really don’t do much for me. In fact; public farting should be banned.
    This should be addressed by all of the”old fart” senators and congressmen. If you can get them from the washrooms while changing their Depends!

    Report this comment

    STREBOR  
  • woodyee
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:10pm

    Wow – that PSA from 1967 sure sheds light on how far backwards Leftist/Liberalism has taken our society. If civilians knew then what we know now about Leftist/Liberals, they’d have stopped them dead in their tracks, except for maybe Calisacramentosuks-ya.

    Report this comment

    woodyee  
  • Sargeking
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:05pm

    I like the bar chatter when the guy asks the girl, “Do you mind if I smoke”? Then she replies, “Why no, not if you don’t mind that I fart and belch”?

    Report this comment

    Sargeking  
  • GhostOfJefferson
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:03pm

    Boy howdy people sure don’t run out of ways to tell me how I should be living my life, do they?

    Mind your own damned business. Don’t like what I do? Then don’t do it yourself.

    And no, I don’t smoke. I’m just really tired of the “PSA” crap.

    Report this comment

    GhostOfJefferson  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on March 21, 2013 at 1:56pm

    That PSA stinks!

    Report this comment

    progressiveslayer  
    • EVANROOD
      Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:06pm

      Sequestration would be no problem if we did away with all the stupid, stinky little PSA,s and the friggen ad council!

      Report this comment

      EVANROOD  
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