For the last couple of weeks, the rumour mill has been in overdrive regarding Smokescreen Music Festival, the self-described 'most dangerous music festival on Earth'. Today, on World Health Day, we can reveal the truth.
As was widely suspected, the festival is the brainchild of the Mushroom Group and the Australian Government. Part of a National Tobacco Campaign managed by the Australian National Preventive Health Agency, the festival — which isn't really a music festival at all — will be 'headlined' by M4CEMA and The Coughin' Nails.
The Coughin' Nails are a "hard hitting English heavy metal / super glam rock 'n' roll band" fronted by "terminally ill" lead singer Lemme Dysoli. They look like this:
And here's M4CEMA with the festival's 'roving reporter', Ella Hooper:
Wondering what the creative types who came up with this quirky campaign were, erm, smoking? Australian National Preventative Health Agency CEO Louise Sylvan can explain.
"For the most part our quit smoking campaigns feature mainstream mass media activities like television, radio, print, outdoor and online advertising. From our regular evaluations of the campaigns we can see that these activities are making an impact but there is always more that can be done to encourage and support smokers in their quit attempts. The Agency saw the potential in such a unique project like the Smokescreen Music Festival to reach and engage with a younger audience about the harms of tobacco use.
"The buzz behind the Smokescreen Music Festival has created a unique opportunity for the Agency to further promote the quit smoking message to a whole new audience in an innovative and engaging way."
Chairman of the Mushroom Group, Michel Gudinski, was equally excited to jump on board the initiative.
"For many years Mushroom has used the imagery and iconography of rock 'n' roll to capture the attention of Australian music fans. We felt that it was timely to combine this experience and Mushroom's creative talents and apply them to a serious health issue. We created engaging content and activated a mix of traditional and digital media channels to promote awareness of the health risks associated with smoking.
"The Smokescreen Music Festival project does this in an entertaining and at times humorous way — while ensuring the negatives associated with smoking are clearly recognised. We have certainly fooled some people as I have had band managers contact me asking to be on the bill!"
Mushroom Marketing Managing Director Carl Gardiner believes the songs that have been crafted for the project will connect with young people.
"Both the tracks featured were written and recorded specifically for the project. They are not jingles or slogans — they are real songs and both make a very powerful statement about smoking in their own way."
Lots more to come on this one; stay tuned and head to smokescreenfestival.com.au for more info.
