“No One Deserves To Die” Campaign Evokes Mixed Reactions

A marketing campaign, that first mystified the people and even outraged some, to the extent that some of the posters were torn, has managed to catch the eyeballs and garner attention and curiosity for its mission to spread “lung-cancer” awareness.

Posters appeared in cities around the country, including Seattle, New York, California and Chicago. The posters featured portraits of various types of people, the rich, the attractive, the hip and animal lovers. What sparked criticism because the tagline on each poster said, “Hipsters Deserve to Die”, “Cat Lovers Deserve to Die, ” and  “Crazy Aunts Deserve To Die,” and so one according to the image on the cover.

Reportedly some resident in Chicago tore down the ads in anger. Kyle Rothfus of Chicago said, “Nobody deserves to die; come on, that’s a hell of a statement.”

Wisconsin agency Laughlin Constable and the Lung Cancer Alliance were to reveal the mystery but before they could do that the campaign become hot news as reporters began to cover the criticism and the people’s comments.

They said they wanted a campaign that would demand attention, and attention, they got lots of it.

All those who were outraged by the ads and called them offensive and insensitive, did not realize that it’s eventual intention was to save lives and not take them and that it was to raise the ugly scepter of lung cancer, that “doesn’t discriminate.”

What the ad saying, is not what you are reading, it is telling you that inspite of the stereotyping that society slaps us with, none of us deserve to die. The message on the site reads,

“Every year over 160,000 lives are lost to a deadly disease. They didn’t ask for it, but many people seem to think they deserved it. This disease doesn’t discriminate. It affects almost all of us and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. So, what is the killer? You’ll find out soon enough.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, killing 158,592 in 2008. However, smoking is not the only cause, there are other causes, including second-hand smoke, asbestos and genetics.

“We knew that one would be polarizing,” said Denise Kohnke, Laughlin/Constable’s vice president of strategy.  “The absurd thing is no one deserves to die.”

He went on to say that the message is difficult to grasp through the posters. He said that because lung cancer was primarily caused by smoking, it is widely assumed that since smokers have brought the disease upon themselves they deserved to die. He said that the website says that they are “unfairly stigmatized.”

Moreover, he said that despite being the “deadliest cancer,” it was the least funded. “Lung cancer doesn’t discriminate and neither should you,” the site says. “Help put an end to the stigma and the disease.”

While many judge the campaign to be distasteful and insensitive, there is little doubt that is has been very effective and successful. Within a short period of time, the ads makers have the whole country buzzing and talking about the ad.

Even though the agency had told, “So, what is the killer? You’ll find out soon enough,” the uproar forced them to prematurely disclose the killer, “lung cancer.” Ominously, people who do not pay heed, leave this world prematurely too.