“Give up for Good” is a collaborative initiative with creative agency Up & Up and Singapore Cancer Society. This initiative is working towards a smoke-free Singapore, by designing a exchange system where people give up one of their cigarettes for the support of Cancer patients and their families. Each cigarette is valued at 0.60 cents, to which corporates match the value and disrupt necessities to patients. The cigarettes were totalled on the 3rd of December 2016, which was named “Give up for Good Day”. This event and the collection process as a whole, was a success and made the community think about the dangers of smoking and waste of money and resources. However, due to the location of the event being the Bugis shopping district in Singapore limited people were able to attend the event. The would have been a challenging factor, however it effects were spread on social media. By collaborating with Up & Up the initiative has now made collections with a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable company. Although “Give up for Good” was recently launched, these associations will provide a pathway for throughout design exploration.
What made this initiative successful was it understood the psychology of the people evolved. By designing a method that breaks away from traditional usual frightening smoking campaigns. Managing director, Up & Up Anand A Vathiyar states “Give up for Good treats smokers with consideration and engages them directly. It demonstrates the power of choice that smokers have with every stick of cigarette.” (Rao M 2016) This shows the power that this methodology has and the importance that minor challenges have, when working to a smoke-free Singapore. There were not major failures, however some people didn’t want to give up their cigarettes and were somewhat defensive. Even though more cigarettes were collected when expected, this was still a small amount of product/money. Due to the dedication of the volunteers and the ethically sound practices of the organisations evolved, there were no interventions. Singapore as a nation is working towards a more health and environmentally conscious society, which means that a significant amount of its citizens respond well to these design initiatives.
This initiative utilises the benefits of working within a transdisciplinary team. Singapore Cancer Society having working on numerous design initiative in the past such as “Designated smokers areas”and “Ashtray”. Meaning that the organisation knows how Singapore is currently responding better to less graphics methods of communications. By working with Up & Up they combined this knowledge with the agency’s understanding for marketing and education. These skills in correlation with the passion and interpersonal skills of the volunteers, meant that the initiative explored the vast impossibilities and benefits of transdisciplinary design. It follows a bottoms-up approachas it stems from a configurations of quantitative data on smoking and research into how the negative effects of cigarettes could be turned into positive interactions in order to make change. By using an analytical intelligence path, they were able to predict the reactions of the participants. Despite the organisations involved being influential, the initiative would not have been a reality within the support and volunteers within the community, which stems from the same ideologies. This initiative was run by volunteers and sponsors (Citrus Events & Communication, Lotte Pepero, Pokka Singapore, Nicorette and Honestbee), however it can’t be labeled as a not-for-profit as the funding also supports the creative agency evolved and the management team in the Singapore Cancer Society.
Reference List:
Rao, M. 2016, ‘Singapore cancer society breaks away from the usual scary smoking campaigns’ Marketing-interactive, 06 December, viewed 10 December 2017, <http://www.marketing-interactive.com/singapore-cancer-society-breaks-away-from-the-usual-scary-smoking-campaigns/>.
Give Up for Good 2017, HomePage, viewed 10 December 2017, <http://giveupforgood.sg/>
Research Division, Institute of mental health, 2012 ‘Smoking and nicotine dependence in Singapore: findings from a cross-sectional epidemiology study.’ Ann Acad Med Singapore, vol. 41, iss 8, viewed 10 December 2017, <https://open-access.imh.com.sg/handle/123456789/4572>
Leow, J, 2017 ‘The Challenges, Emotions, Coping and Gains of Family Caregivers for Patients with Advanced Cancer in Singapore: A Qualitative Study.’ Cancer Nursing, vol 40. Iss 1, viewed 10 December 2017 <http://journals.lww.com/cancernursingonline/Abstract/2017/01000/The_Challenges,_Emotions,_Coping,_and_Gains_of.3.aspx>
Kim, J, Cao, X, Meczkowski, E, 2017. ‘Does Stigmatization Motivate People to Quit Smoking? Examining the Effect of Stigmatizing Anti-Smoking Campaigns on Cessation Intention’ vol 0. Iss. 0, viewed 10 December 2017, <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/ref/10.1080/10410236.2017.1299275?scroll=top>
Indonesia Global Design Studio 
This is such an effective idea in helping smokers make an educational choice in regards to their habit, especially when faced with cancer. I think what makes this design initiative effective was what you mentioned about its success in utilising psychology; making smokers more aware of the dangers and waste of resources that tobacco causes while also giving back to the community and making them feel their choice was correct.