Smoking Kid
Also: Smoking Kid: A Personal Message to the Smokers · Smoking Kids
2012 Thai Health Promotion Foundation stunt: children aged about 7-10 asked adult smokers on Bangkok streets for a light; when the adults refused and warned them about smoking, the child handed over a note asking 'You worry about me, but why not about yourself?' with the 1600 quitline number. Hidden-camera footage was released online with no paid media.
- Years
- 2012
- Country
- Thailand
- Budget
- About US$5,000, no media spend (Cannes Lions entry, via search summary)
- Topic
- Tobacco
- Asks people to
- Seek helpStop
- Strategy
- Cessation service linkUser generated content
- Channel
- EventsSocial (organic)
- Audience
- AdultsAdult smokers in Bangkok; the film then spread nationally and internationally online.
Evidence
Self-reportedUnknown
Agency case study (Campaign Asia, June 2012) claims a 40% increase in calls to the 1600 quitline; WARC case gives a pre-campaign baseline of about 7,057 calls a month (January-May 2012) but the post figure is paywalled. APAC Effie Gold 2014. No independent or peer-reviewed evaluation found; quitline calls are not quit attempts or quits.
Sponsor (who paid)
- Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) Foreign government, funder
- Thailand National Quitline (1600) Foreign government, service promoted
Credits (who made it)
- Ogilvy & Mather Bangkok Creative, 2012 source
Sources
Research notes
Ogilvy credit and 40% call claim fetched from the Campaign Asia page 2026-10-22 (credits ECDs Wisit Lumsiricharoenchoke and Nopadol Srikieatikajohn); APAC Effie page fetched 2026-10-22 and confirms Ogilvy & Mather Thailand. Budget and Cannes award details from search snippets only (lovethework pages render no text). ThaiHealth is a statutory body funded by a 2% surcharge on tobacco and alcohol excise; typed foreign-government by convention. Ethics of using child actors with cigarettes was debated in press; not documented here.
Record cases/th-smoking-kid.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign