The reveal follows months of rumours and speculation on both the lineup and premise of the festival, with Smokescreen today announcing its ‘headliners’.
While many already assumed that the festival was tied in with an anti-smoking message with it’s less than subtle references, the lineup, revealed on Sunday April 7 – World Health Day, suggests that the festival may indeed be far more anti-smoking message than music festival.
Two headline acts, The Coughin’ Nails and M4 Cema, have been announced. Both, as far as we can tell, exist solely within the bounds of Smokescreen, however both also own newly created Facebook pages and both have recorded tracks laden with tongue-in-cheek anti-smoking themes and associated music videos. You can view The Coughin’ Nails video above.
“Both the tracks featured were written and recorded specifically for the project,” noted Carl Gardiner, managing director of Mushroom Marketing. “They are not jingles or slogans – they are real songs and both make a very powerful statement about smoking in their own way.”
“For many years Mushroom has used the imagery and iconography of rock’n’roll to capture the attention of Australian music fans,” shared Michael Gudinski, Chairman of The Mushroom Group of Companies. “We felt that is was timely to combine this experience and Mushroom’s creative talents and apply them to a serious health issue. We created engaging content and activated a mix of traditional and digital media channels to promote awareness of the health risks associated with smoking. The Smokescreen Music Festival project does this in an entertaining and at times humorous way – while ensuring the negatives associated with smoking are clearly recognised. We have certainly fooled some people as I have had band managers contact me asking to be on the bill!”
Support acts have been listed as Lung Cancer, Heart Disease and Clogged Arteries along with other smoking related ailments.
The only question remaining is exactly how far Mushroom Marketing and The Federal Government are going to take this campaign? So far, it’s certainly got us talking.
