This Swedish Billboard Coughs When a Smoker Walks by [VIDEO]

The risks of smoking cigarettes have been tirelessly researched – yet the consequences have yet to penetrate deep enough to prevent the almost one billion people who smoke cigarettes world wide. Swedish pharmacy chain Apotek Hjärtat came up with an innovative sollution to make a cognizant impact and their latest ad-campaign – a new, interactive billboard in Stockholm – has caught people off-guard and got them laughing and thinking.

The billboard, stationed on the side of a metro station in Stockholm’s Odenplan Square, is a digital screen with the face of a man who literally and audibly coughs out loud when someone smokes near it. The effect was created by attaching smoke detectors to the billboard’s screen which activate the animation whenever they sense a smoker nearby.

Once the model is done coughing, the screen transitions into products that are sold at Apotek Hjärtat pharmacies to help smokers kick their awful habit for good. At just 13 percent, Sweden already has the lowest smoking rate of any country in the European Union, but Apotek Hjärtat’s ‘in-your-face’ approach has the ability to successfully shake up perceptions and get people talking, and those who have been ‘coughed at’ might think twice before the next time they light up.