Quitting smoking is one of the most popular New Years resolutions, but how many actually keep it?

A pharmacy in Sweden wanted to help people (and promote themselves in the process), and they designed a provocative ad which coughs when smokers pass by it.

The animated screen features a man’s head and shoulders. Smoke detectors are embedded inside the screen. When someone lights a cigarette next to it, the detectors pick that up and the person on the screen starts to smoke. Then the ad reads:

‘We’re the Swedish Pharmacy Hjärtat. Our mission is to help you live a longer and healthier life. That’s why I’m here, to help you get new, healthier habits just in time for the new year.’

It’s estimated that smoking kills six million people every year, and a recent study concluded that the total global cost of smoking in terms of health care costs and production losses amounts to more than a trillion dollars per year.

Image via Youtube

Personally, I found the ad creative and effective, but others (presumably smokers) called it obnoxious. What do you think?

Swedish companies have been on point creatively in 2017. Just recently, we wrote about a small Swedish brewery which created a beer perfectly designed for drinking in the shower. So it’s ok to drink in the shower, as long as you don’t smoke.