FDA releases an Animal Crossing-themed anti-smoking commercial
The Food and Drug Administration’s award-winning public education campaign, “The Real Cost,” aims to prevent youth from starting and continuing to use tobacco products. This campaign has been going on for a number of years now, and one of its latest commercials has direct ties to one of Nintendo’s biggest brands.
There’s no doubt anyone who’s played Animal Crossing will instantly recognize the imagery and style of the ad above, which is indeed a ‘Real Cost’ advertisement. It shows an Animal Crossing villager laying down in bed at night, only to be haunted by a literally cigarette smoke demon. Pretty dark stuff for an Animal Crossing spot!
Here’s the thing, though. I’m not 100% sure that this was actually given the green light by Nintendo. Again, the commercial itself is very real and can be seen airing on Twitch right now. That said, there’s no official mention of Nintendo anywhere in the ad, and the same goes for the company behind it, Sawhorse. I scoured their website for any mentions of working with Nintendo, and I couldn’t find them listed as a client anywhere.
If this isn’t an officially-approved Nintendo commercial, I’d imagine Nintendo won’t be too happy with it. The question is, is it just different enough to keep Nintendo’s lawyers away?
Source: GoNintendo
