Attraction Le Manga

Japan 2014. Come into the life of Hiro, Koichi and Ren and interact with your webcam and facebook profile: Attraction.
You as viewer receive prompts to help the characters in their adventures via motion or color recognition with your webcam. All in manga style in this 10 minute adventure.
During this adventure it becomes clear that the story is about the struggle to resist the influence of friends and later on about tobacco addiction.

Attraction is a campaign from INPES, the French National Institute for Prevention and Health Education. It was launched November 16.

At the end the viewer can choose to learn about the manipulation of the tobacco industry related to tobacco addiction and existing aid to stop smoking.
If desired a personalized coaching is available. The manga is also available for download.

This manga story is made by Koji Morimoto, a Japanese artist known for having been co-director of the animated film Akira.
The day before the launch some influencial French bloggers got access with a special code. 350,000 postcards are distributed in 1800 establishments like pubs and schools. The trailer was projected outdoor in the seven largest cities in France (over 30 sites).
The trailer was and still is also projected before the film “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”.

Le Tabac attire chaque annee des centaines de milliers de nouveaux consommateurs. Ne vous laissez pas pieger.
Tobacco attracts hundreds of thousands of new consumers each year. Don’t be fooled.

I’ve seen a lot approaches in tobacco addiction campaigns but never seen something like this. This experience is hard to describe, you must try it yourself. I’m not a manga fan myself but found it very impressive.
For any anti tobacco campaign the question still is: will it work?

Related INPES posts:
- A chance
- Rumeur virale

Part of the story in French. Also available in English.