«Don't wait for the squirrel – put out the cigarette butt!»

Do you know what a cigarette butt, dropped unextinguished on a bed or floor, is capable of? In approximately 2 minutes, it will cause a fire, and a few moments later – a blaze that will be impossible to extinguish on your own. Unfortunately, not everyone sees this as a compelling reason to quit smoking. However, while smoking or not smoking is a personal choice, extinguishing cigarette butts is a direct duty of all smokers.

To draw attention to the problem of fires caused by careless handling of fire when smoking and to remind people about safety, the Republican Center for Propaganda of the Ministry of Emergency Situations launched a new information and propaganda campaign on November 9, 2020 – "Don't wait for the squirrel – extinguish the cigarette butt!". Its target audience is people who neglect safety rules and believe that an unextinguished cigarette is a trifle that cannot lead to a tragedy.

But how to present a topical problem in an unusual way to interest the target audience and encourage them to change their behavior? Of course, with the help of creative ideas and humor. Thus, the main "heroine" of the new campaign became the squirrel – a nimble and quick animal that catches everything on the fly. She is very curious and smart, so she can quickly appear where a smoldering cigarette butt is thrown and extinguish it instead of the unlucky and careless smoker.

"The squirrel has come!" and "Don't wait for the squirrel – extinguish the cigarette butt!" – these messages formed the basis of the campaign. They were chosen for a reason: firstly, their comical nature immediately sparks imagination and allows for a vivid representation of fluffy safety guardians fighting unextinguished cigarettes. Secondly, everyone knows the associations that arise from these phrases. They will be especially close to the "high-risk group" – people leading an intoxicated lifestyle – for whom smoking in bed and falling asleep is commonplace. Thanks to such a light and humorous form, the campaign's slogans will surely pop up in the minds of the target audience when they once again reach for cigarettes, and will definitely make them extinguish the butts so that "the squirrel doesn't come."