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

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.

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.

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"?