Cigarette Eating Machines

Quitters Unite Guerilla Marketing Campaign in Vancouver
Quitters Unite recently did a creative publicity stunt in Vancouver, Canada. To create hype for their tobacco awareness campaign, they placed a giant graffitied box—the Smoke Eater—in different parts of the city, with a deep voice encouraging passersby to throw in their (un-used) cigarettes. When they did throw in their cigarettes—into the area change would usually go in vending machine—the Smoke Eater would light up, and spit out a prize.
To make it even more fun, the prize changed every time. As the video shows, the Smoke Eater spat out quite a random assortment of rewards, from bouncy balls to badminton rackets… addictive, and way cooler than a cigarette.

"Restaurant workers were rushing away from their tables, only to find that the Smoke Eater was barking out demands for cigarettes," the Quitters Unite blog says. "Suddenly the one or two individuals at each business who actually did smoke became the centre of attention as everyone else helped them to get rid of their cigarettes in exchange for prizes like badminton sets, snacks, bouncy balls and flowers."

Quitters Unite is a quit smoking support service and tobacco awareness campaign for young adults managed by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. They are using this video to help promote their Smoke Free Lifestyle contest, which asks people what they would do with an extra $300—the average amount a pack-a-day smoker spends on cigarettes a month. The best answer will win an iPad 2 and, you guessed it, $300.