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Retiree Spends $40,000 On These Kooky Anti-Smoking Subway Ads
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 2, 2011
Modified Jun 2, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 2, 2011
Modified Jun 2, 2011
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Have you noticed this rather peculiar anti-smoking subway ad? As you can see here, it's got bunnies, hearts, songbirds, and catchy slogans such as "Kissing a dirty ashtray is never loving," and "Love needs honesty (look into my eyes)." But what really catches the eye is that copy reading: "Subway post inspired by NYC Mayor MB Mensch." What does it all MEAN?! In search of answers, we tracked down the man behind the ad.
"This is only one of 35 creations that we've done," says Alfred Brotter, an 82-year-old man from upstate New York, currently retired in Florida. "This one seems to be the most beneficial. I wanted to make contact with Mike Bloomberg, the mayor of NYC, but haven't heard from him yet. He has the means to convert it into other languages, and this ad could save a million people around the world!"
During a lengthy phone conversation, Brotter said he made his fortune on the stock exchange, and, having lost "an awful lot of loved ones due to cigarettes," he decided to drop $40,000 on these subway ads. "I originally wanted them in all 6,600 subway cars, but the guy at CBS said 1,000 was enough," Brotter says. "It's a wild card. But so many of the anti-smoking signs are ridiculous. They're not working. That's why my subway ad focuses on longevity and happiness. You need to reach people in the back of the brain, not the front. Most of their brains are in their penises anyway."
Brotter's other "creations" deal with honesty, smoking, and temper. "The temper one could be the largest-selling item in the world," he tells us, but he's hoping Mayor Bloomberg, who has instituted a number of smoking bans, will buy the rights to the anti-smoking ad and distribute it worldwide. "This will give his ego a big boost," Brotter insists. He declined to say how much he was asking for the rights to distribute the ad, but told us "it's a big number."
At any rate, we've handed Brotter's contact info over to our ad sales team, so with any luck we'll be seeing some adorable anti-smoking bunny banner ads soon! (It beats having a smoker with amputated fingers all up in the front of your brain.)
Tagged
anti-smoking
anti-smoking ad
mayor bloomberg
psa
smoking
subway
subway ad
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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