Govt mulls non-skippable anti-tobacco ads on OTT; will they even work?

The Health Ministry wants video streamers such as Netflix, JioCinema, and Amazon Prime Video to run anti-tobacco ads. As per a draft, these platforms must display a non-skippable ad of no less than 30 seconds and an audio-visual disclaimer of not below 20 seconds on the ill effects of tobacco as soon as one starts streaming.

Using communication to curb tobacco addiction is welcome, but history reminds us how ineffective and cringeworthy the anti-tobacco ads shown in cinemas before a film screening were.

Seeing Mukesh Harane on a hospital bed with a tube inserted down his nose due to addiction was more distressing than effective in spreading awareness of smoking’s ill effects. 

Watching black liquid squeezed from a sponge to represent a tobacco-induced, cancer-damaged lung was a poor idea.

As per a World Health Organisation (WHO) post from May 2024, "In India, nearly 3600 people die every day due to tobacco use."

We (afaqs!) asked three creative leaders how to make an effective anti-tobacco ad.

Iraj Fraz Batla, creative head, DDB Tribal

The government mandating OTT platforms to play non-skippable anti-tobacco ads isn’t the problem. We need to address this societal issue in a non-skippable manner.

The problem is that curbing smoking is one of the toughest advertising briefs.

I can tell you why, based on personal experience. The usual strategy of showing the ill effects of smoking doesn’t work. It’s an addiction, and smokers are of an age where they already know that.

Instead, the ads need to show ways of fighting the addiction.

For example, using nicotine patches while sipping chai or munching on saunf (fennel), the strategy team should figure out what works. Then, the ads must follow the basic law of advertising: make the communication so catchy that it plays in the smokers’ heads long after they’ve watched it.

That’s the only way to make them truly ‘unskippable’.

Nikhil Narayanan, head of creative strategy and brand director, Zlade, a grooming brand

The anti-tobacco ads are mere tokenism and a compliance mandate rather than a sincere attempt to do something for society. There are many other ways to encourage de-addiction; people focus on these ads because they are the low-hanging fruit.

Instead, why doesn’t the government regulate tobacco and its distribution? Sugar is a bigger killer; I don’t see 30-second non-skippable ads for that.

Most of the time, the decision-makers behind these ads create blanket messages and declare their job done, leaving the responsibility of improvement to the people.

Amit Wadhwa, chief executive officer, Dentsu Creative

The anti-tobacco advertisements shocked me when I first saw them in the theatre, even though I don't smoke. Initially, they were both gross and scary.

However, the more you see them, the more they remain gross and can eventually become meme material. You cannot keep showing the same thing and expect the same response every time; you need to keep reinventing the message for the audience. Otherwise, people will look away for 30 seconds.

For instance, the insurance category often makes references to death in its advertisements, but it's possible to convey the importance of insurance without directly referencing death.

Focus on different aspects, such as why and when young people start smoking, or how no one would smoke near a pregnant woman. There are so many approaches… Without being gross, you can still drive home the message. Without relying on fear, you can still make an effective ad.