Advertising & Campaigns
Poum Noir — Anti-Smoking Campaign
A fictional cigarette brand that weaponises its own advertising — real smoke on billboards, addiction confronted in portrait, a poster inside a hospital cancer ward. The brand promotes itself. The truth does the rest.
Year :
2023
Industry :
Public Health
Client :
Conceptual Project
Project Duration :
2 weeks
Problem :
Anti-smoking campaigns often rely on graphic warnings or statistics audiences have grown desensitized to after years of repetitive public health messaging. A more provocative, memorable approach was needed — one that could cut through this fatigue and confront viewers in a way traditional PSA campaigns no longer could.
Solution :
Poum Noir was conceived as a fictional cigarette brand campaign with a subversive twist — using the visual language and confidence of real cigarette advertising against itself. Billboards featured real rising smoke installations, a portrait confronted viewers with an elderly woman's lifetime of addiction, and a poster was strategically placed inside a hospital cancer ward — letting the brand's own imagery do the persuading, without an explicit anti-smoking message stated outright.
Challenge :
The biggest challenge was maintaining subtlety and restraint — the campaign needed to look and feel like genuine cigarette advertising for its subversive twist to land, without ever tipping into obvious moralizing or losing its unsettling impact. Executing a live smoke installation as part of the billboard concept also required careful conceptual and technical consideration to translate the idea from concept to physical execution.
Summary :
Poum Noir turns the codes of cigarette advertising against itself, using a fictional brand to deliver an anti-smoking message with far more impact than a conventional PSA. Through provocative placements — from live smoke billboards to a hospital ward poster — the campaign proves that the most powerful message is sometimes the one the audience believes they're supposed to trust.
More Projects
Advertising & Campaigns
Poum Noir — Anti-Smoking Campaign
A fictional cigarette brand that weaponises its own advertising — real smoke on billboards, addiction confronted in portrait, a poster inside a hospital cancer ward. The brand promotes itself. The truth does the rest.
Year :
2023
Industry :
Public Health
Client :
Conceptual Project
Project Duration :
2 weeks
Problem :
Anti-smoking campaigns often rely on graphic warnings or statistics audiences have grown desensitized to after years of repetitive public health messaging. A more provocative, memorable approach was needed — one that could cut through this fatigue and confront viewers in a way traditional PSA campaigns no longer could.
Solution :
Poum Noir was conceived as a fictional cigarette brand campaign with a subversive twist — using the visual language and confidence of real cigarette advertising against itself. Billboards featured real rising smoke installations, a portrait confronted viewers with an elderly woman's lifetime of addiction, and a poster was strategically placed inside a hospital cancer ward — letting the brand's own imagery do the persuading, without an explicit anti-smoking message stated outright.
Challenge :
The biggest challenge was maintaining subtlety and restraint — the campaign needed to look and feel like genuine cigarette advertising for its subversive twist to land, without ever tipping into obvious moralizing or losing its unsettling impact. Executing a live smoke installation as part of the billboard concept also required careful conceptual and technical consideration to translate the idea from concept to physical execution.
Summary :
Poum Noir turns the codes of cigarette advertising against itself, using a fictional brand to deliver an anti-smoking message with far more impact than a conventional PSA. Through provocative placements — from live smoke billboards to a hospital ward poster — the campaign proves that the most powerful message is sometimes the one the audience believes they're supposed to trust.
More Projects
Advertising & Campaigns
Poum Noir — Anti-Smoking Campaign
A fictional cigarette brand that weaponises its own advertising — real smoke on billboards, addiction confronted in portrait, a poster inside a hospital cancer ward. The brand promotes itself. The truth does the rest.
Year :
2023
Industry :
Public Health
Client :
Conceptual Project
Project Duration :
2 weeks
Problem :
Anti-smoking campaigns often rely on graphic warnings or statistics audiences have grown desensitized to after years of repetitive public health messaging. A more provocative, memorable approach was needed — one that could cut through this fatigue and confront viewers in a way traditional PSA campaigns no longer could.
Solution :
Poum Noir was conceived as a fictional cigarette brand campaign with a subversive twist — using the visual language and confidence of real cigarette advertising against itself. Billboards featured real rising smoke installations, a portrait confronted viewers with an elderly woman's lifetime of addiction, and a poster was strategically placed inside a hospital cancer ward — letting the brand's own imagery do the persuading, without an explicit anti-smoking message stated outright.
Challenge :
The biggest challenge was maintaining subtlety and restraint — the campaign needed to look and feel like genuine cigarette advertising for its subversive twist to land, without ever tipping into obvious moralizing or losing its unsettling impact. Executing a live smoke installation as part of the billboard concept also required careful conceptual and technical consideration to translate the idea from concept to physical execution.
Summary :
Poum Noir turns the codes of cigarette advertising against itself, using a fictional brand to deliver an anti-smoking message with far more impact than a conventional PSA. Through provocative placements — from live smoke billboards to a hospital ward poster — the campaign proves that the most powerful message is sometimes the one the audience believes they're supposed to trust.