SINGAPORE – The Health Promotion Board (HPB), in collaboration with creative agency TBWA\Singapore, has unveiled a bold anti-vaping campaign titled “Don’t Toy With Your Life.” This provocative initiative seeks to challenge youth perceptions of vaping by exposing its deceptive allure through arresting visuals and storytelling grounded in behavioural insight.
In recent weeks, curious commuters across Singapore’s MRT network encountered mysterious toy-like installations, grotesque yet alluring blister packs featuring toy figurines with names like Popcorn Lungs, Diseased Heart, and Addicted Brain. These unsettling creations, designed with satirical flair, now form the centrepiece of HPB’s national campaign to combat the rising incidence of e-cigarette usage among Singaporean youth.
Despite a nationwide ban, vaping continues to gain traction particularly among young adults. Data from the Health Sciences Authority revealed a near fourfold increase in e-cigarette possession and usage offences in 2022 compared to 2020. Research also indicates that peer influence and media portrayal significantly drive uptake among youth demographics.
“Don’t Toy With Your Life” aims to dismantle the perceived harmlessness of vaping by juxtaposing its trendy, toy-like appeal with sobering representations of its long-term health risks. The campaign’s creative strategy centres on using collectible packaging aesthetics, a cultural touchpoint deeply familiar to its target demographic to draw initial interest, before subverting expectations with visceral, medically inspired visuals.
“We intentionally mirror the appealing aesthetics often used to attract potential users, only to reveal the serious health risks and legal consequences of vaping. By doing so, the campaign highlights the deceptive allure of vaping and urges the public to reject it.
Recognising our youths’ strong interest and current craze in limited-edition collectibles, we chose striking blister toy packs as our visual hook to capture their attention and spark a connection. We used design not just as decoration, but as a cultural trojan horse — embedding a serious message into a format that felt familiar and native to youth culture. By reimagining anti-vape communication through the lens of collectible packaging, we transformed pop-culture visuals into a visually arresting warning to initiate important conversations on the serious consequences of vaping,” explained Loo Yong Ping, Executive Creative Director of TBWA\Singapore.
The campaign’s multifaceted rollout spans digital platforms, social media, public transport networks, and cinema advertising. A cinematic campaign film anchors the initiative, following a fictional live streamer who peddles the figurines using manipulative sales tactics—an allegory for how harmful trends, like vaping, are often popularised and legitimised online. The film further explores how the desire for social belonging makes young people particularly vulnerable to peer pressure and online influence.
Running from mid-June to August 2025, the campaign is strategically timed to reach youth across platforms they frequent, including TikTok, Instagram and streaming video platforms.
