Truth Initiative’s PSA Features the World’s Worst Therapist

Truth Initiative has been around since the turn of the millennium, discouraging youths from the use of tobacco and nicotine. For a long time, that meant cigarettes and cigars, but with the revolution of e-cigs and vapes, they had a new opponent. Around 2019 Truth had launched a campaign called “This is Quitting” encouraging people to drop their vapes and since then made several iterations on the theme. The latest of these marketing efforts is the “Toxic Therapy From Your Vape” ad series.

Featuring Chris Parnell of Rick and Morty fame, the campaign centers around the reports that a vape can lead to increased stress and anxiety by having a cartoon vape offer some of the worst advice that you could imagine. It was released in a series of 15-second spots. This shorter format allows the ads to play in their entirety on video platforms like YouTube, where their target audience of young adults and teenagers spend a lot of time. The wise mix of delivery and deployment demonstrates Truth Initiative’s intimate understanding of the audience that they’ve worked so hard to reach for two decades. It also offers deeper insights for other marketers on how best to serve their messages to their target demographic. The most essential takeaway? Talking inanimate objects seem to always be a hit.