Were you keen to catch “all the killer acts you’ve been dying to see” at the Smokescreen Music Festival? The rumoured addition to Australia’s music festival roster courtesy of the Mushroom Group? Well, if you were looking forward to ‘the most dangerous music festival on Earth’, you might be disappointed.
Following from last month’s teaser campaign, including street marketing and a video trailer cropping up for the Smokescreen Music Festival teasing a forthcoming lineup announcement, the entire event has been revealed to be just that, a smokescreen to what the Mushroom backed event really was: a government backed health awareness campaign.
Tied to celebrating World Health Day on Sunday 7th April, the Smokescreen Music Festival campaign was designed to promote the ‘de-glamourisation’ of smoking amongst young people in an innovative new way, and though the Mushroom Group had teased plans for a festival, the gig was up (pun intended) once they actually ‘announced’ the list of bands that were to play the festival late last week.
Fictional acts such as The Coughin’ Nails, M4 Cema, “with special guests” Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Yellow Teeth, and other not-so-subtle smoking related references, were listed in promotional posters, essentially giving away that there was no music festival to begin with, merely the fictional marketing for one.
Another big early hint was the promise of “all the killer acts you’ve been dying to see that will take your breath away,” from Smokescreen Festival promoter ‘Michael Mike Michaels’, a rather un-subtle pseudonym for Mushroom’s own Executive Chairman Michael Gudinski. “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.” – Louis Sylvan, ANPHA CEO
Tone Deaf first discovered Mushroom’s plans for Smokescreen Last February following their 40th Anniversary birthday and rebranding, with some digging unearthing a creative trademark for Smokescreen, as well as the official domain name, were both registered to Mushroom Marketing PTY LTD in the listings from Intellectual Property In Australia’s official website.
The company had also earned a $236,500 Federal Government grant from the Department of Health & Aging for “sponsorship of Smokescreen Music Festival National Tobacco Campaign;” while it was thought that money was to promote anti-smoking by a national touring festival, it turns out that we get the promotion and marketing – but no actual event.
In a press release ‘revealing’ the true purpose of the Smokescreen promotional campaign, Louis Sylvan, CEO of the Australian National Preventive Health Agency said the aim was promote anti-smoking to young Australians in a new way. “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,” said Sylvan.
“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.”
Mushroom Executive Director Michael Gudinski also spoke about their decision to get involved in the campaign. “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 is was timely to combine this experience and Mushroom’s creative talents and apply them to a serious health issue,” Gudinksi said.
“We created engaging content and activated a mix of traditional and digital media channels to promote awareness of the health risks associated with smoking,” he continues. “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!”
While there is no music festival, and no real bands, the two fictional outfits that were listed as ‘headlining’ the event are still releasing singles that promote anti-smoking. The “outrageous glam rock band” the Coughin’ Nails and imaginary hip-hop act, M4 CEMA, have both released teasers for their new singles, the former in a track called ‘Very Good Year’, and the latter’s ‘Get You Out Of My System’.
Speaking of the new fictional singles, Mushroom Marketing Managing Director Carl Gardiner says the aim was to 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.”
Considering the amount of effort that had gone into marketing the Smokescreen Music Festival, its curious why Mushroom didn’t just go ahead with using their sizeable resources and put together a live music event anyway. Regardless, you can view the teasers for the two new anti-smoking singles below.
