Health Canada Anti-Vaping Campaign

This was a mini ads campaign with Andrea, where we were briefed to create an awareness campaign informing teenagers about the effects of e-cigarettes and vaping for Health Canada. We decided to take an unconventional approach—analog horror. The concept starts innocuously, almost suggesting that vaping is harmless, before the horror elements kick in to reveal the real consequences. Andrea produced the video and I handled the poster designs. After learning from the feedback on the Reebok campaign, we made sure the posters and video maintained a consistent visual language throughout, which our professor approved.

Health Canada Anti-Vaping Campaign

The Hall of Fame

A gallery showing my work in process and products

Problem Statement

The core challenge was reaching teenagers—a demographic that is notoriously difficult to engage with traditional public health messaging. Standard anti-vaping ads often feel preachy and are easy for teens to tune out. We needed to find a way to communicate the real dangers of vaping without coming across as another boring health lecture. The message had to be engaging enough to hold their attention while still delivering a serious warning.

Research and Findings

We looked at what content actually resonates with younger audiences and noticed the growing popularity of analog horror on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Channels like The Backrooms, Local 58, and Mandela Catalogue have massive teen followings because the format creates genuine unease through familiar, seemingly safe content that slowly becomes disturbing. We realized this format was perfect for our message—start with something that feels normal and safe, then pull back the curtain to reveal the horror underneath, mirroring how vaping is marketed as harmless but carries real health consequences.

Solution

We leaned fully into the analog horror aesthetic. The video opens with a retro, almost comforting tone suggesting that vaping is perfectly fine, before glitching and distorting into unsettling imagery that exposes the real health effects. Andrea produced the video while I designed the accompanying posters, keeping everything visually consistent this time—same color palette, same distressed typography, same eerie tone across all materials. The analog horror approach let us scare and engage the audience simultaneously, delivering the anti-vaping message in a format that teenagers would actually watch and share rather than scroll past.

Duration 2 weeks

Two weeks from concept to delivery—developing an analog horror campaign concept, producing a video, and designing consistent print materials for a Health Canada awareness brief.