BIG BETTING IS THE NEW BIG TOBACCO
Art Director: Abby Pallant
Copywriter: Paolo Iacovelli
Sports betting advertisements are replicating Big Tobacco's playbook exactly: glamorize an addiction, and do it everywhere. However, we now know the danger of cigarette addiction warranted regulation. Now sports betting needs the same.
NCPG will print playing cards that have the look and feel of vintage baseball cards and distribute them at stadiums, sports bars, and tailgates.
The cards will have the same format, the same nostalgia, but instead of batting averages on the back, the cards will carry the educational stats the sports betting industry intentionally leaves out. And yes, people can also play cards with them.
Guerrilla teams will hit major US cities during peak sports betting season (Super Bowl week, March Madness) and slap surgeon-general-style warning labels directly onto sports betting ads in the wild—billboards, bus shelters, subway cards.
The labels mimic FDA tobacco warnings but addresses gambling harm, turning every slick sports betting ad into its own PSA. Every person who photographs it becomes a volunteer media channel.