Bruce Robinson has spent the last 20 years approaching random strangers in Regina and offering them $1,000 to quit smoking.
When Joel Pinel first heard of the challenge, he was skeptical. âI thought, âThis guyâs lost it,ââ Pinel said.
But after meeting Robinson in person, Pinel changed his mind.
And if youâre assuming Bruce Robinson is now broke, youâd be wrong. Despite challenging about 1,000 people over the past two decades, only six people have completed Robinsonâs quit-smoking challenge.
That means heâs only given away $6,000, despite offering about $1 million.
Itâs a number that proves just how difficult it is to quit, Robinson said.
He also said it shows how important it is to prevent people from starting smoking, before theyâre hooked.
âItâs not a habit. Itâs an addiction,â said Robinson.
Now, the two men are working together to try and create a documentary dedicated to smoking prevention.
The documentary, titled â1,000 Excuses to Quit,â will follow Robinson and the people to whom he offers $1,000 to give up smoking for a year. It will include interviews with people who couldnât complete the challenge, as well as success stories.
âOur goal is to get (the film) to the young people and show them how addictive smoking is,â said Robinson.
Pinel and Robinson have started an online Kickstarter campaign to try and raise $45,000 for production costs. So far, a week into the 30-day campaign, they've raised just under $2,000.
But Pinel said momentum is growing and that they expect the donations to pick up over the next three weeks. They hope to begin filming this summer.
Robinson has been thinking of doing a documentary for years, he said, but when a close friend died of a smoking-related stroke in November, he felt that he had to take action. After meeting Robinson, Pinel agreed to be the filmâs producer.
Both men say theyâre motivated by how smoking-related health problems have affected their friends and family.
Pinel said it took a heart attack to convince his father to quit smoking, and that he hopes the film will provide a wake-up call strong enough that audience members wonât need similar health scares to show them how harmful smoking can be.
In addition to his friendâs death, Robinsonâs father was 57 when he died of a heart attack. It was that tragedy that inspired Robinsonâs crusade against cigarettes. When his father was young, said Robinson, smoking was more acceptable.
But if his father was alive today, Robinson thinks he would be supportive of his sonâs anti-smoking campaign.
âI think heâd probably be pretty proud of me,â said Robinson.
