‘Smokescreen’ Revealed As Anti-Smoking Campaign

The mysterious 'Smokescreen Music Festival' has been revealed as a marketing campaign from Mushroom Marketing and the Australian National Preventative Health Agency aimed to highlight the dangers of smoking.

Many media outlets had reported the festival as a legitimate live music event as the “killer new festival” campaign attempted a viral launch. The “headliners” were eventually revealed on Sunday to coincide with World Health Day. The phoney acts include hip-hop group M4-CEMA and glam-metal band The Coughin' Nails. As part of the campaign, both of the acts have recorded video clips to songs with anti-smoking lyrics.

Mushroom Music Chairman Michael Gudinski, who had previously not commented on Smokescreen, said, “For many years Mushroom has used the imagery and iconography of rock'n'roll to capture the attention of Australian music fans. We felt that is was timely to combine this experience and Mushroom's creative talents and apply them to a serious health issue.”

He added, “We have certainly fooled some people as I have had band managers contact me asking to be on the bill!”

Mushroom Marketing's Marketing Director Carl Gardiner has stressed that despite the festival being a rouse, the two tracks are legitimate.

“Both the tracks featured were written and recorded specifically for the project,” he said. “They are not jingles or slogans – they are real songs and both make a very powerful statement about smoking in their own way.”

Watch the The Coughin' Nails' Very Good Year below:

M4-CEMA have released a trailer for Get You Out Of My System: