Atlanta, March 28, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Continuing with the success of last year's national education ad campaign, "Tips from Former Smokers," a second series of ads was launched today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ads, funded by the Affordable Care Act's Prevention and Public Health Fund, feature compelling stories of former smokers living with smoking-related diseases and disabilities. Beginning Monday, ads will run for at least 12 weeks on television, radio, and billboards, online, and in theaters, magazines, and newspapers nationwide.
See video from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Synaptic Digital at: http://inr.synapticdigital.com/cdc/quittobacco/
"This campaign is saving lives and saving dollars by giving
people the facts about smoking in an easy-to understand way that
encourages quitting," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius. This campaign is effective. The increase in calls to
quitlines after last year's campaign show that more people are
trying to quit smoking as a result of these ads."
The messages in these new ads are emotional, telling the story of
how real people's lives were changed forever due to their smoking
or exposure to secondhand smoke. The ads feature smoking-related
health conditions--including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
or COPD, more severe adult asthma, and complications from diabetes,
such as blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, and
amputation--and candidly describe the losses from smoking and the
gains from quitting. The ads encourage smokers to call
1-800-QUIT-NOW, a toll-free number to access quit support across
the country, or visit www.cdc.gov/tips to view the personal
stories from the campaign and for free help quitting.
"Smoking and secondhand smoke kill - and they also harm smokers and
non-smokers. The Tips from Former Smokers campaign shows the
painful effects of smoking through former smokers, in a way that
numbers alone cannot," said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.
"These are the kinds of ads that smokers tell us help motivate them
to quit, saving lives and money."
The new ads feature Tiffany, who lost her mother when she was 16 to
lung cancer, and recently quit smoking herself as her own daughter
turned 16 because she did not want her daughter to suffer the way
she did; Bill, a 40-year-old with diabetes whose smoking led to
heart surgery, blindness in one eye, amputation, and kidney
failure; Michael, who suffers from COPD, and is agonizing about how
to tell his grandson he may not be around to share his life much
longer; as well as Nathan, who suffered severe lung damage from
secondhand smoke exposure at work. And, a new ad featuring Terrie,
who appeared in last year's ads showing what a head and neck cancer
survivor has to do to "get ready for the day," and who wishes she
had recorded her voice before she had to have her voicebox removed,
since her grandson has never heard any voice but her current
one.
Despite the known dangers of tobacco use, nearly one in five adults
in the United States still smoke. Almost 90 percent of smokers
started before they were 18, and many of them experience
life-changing health effects at a relatively early age. Smoking
harms nearly every organ in the body. A "tip" from Bill, the ad
participant with diabetes: "Make a list. Put the people you love at
the top. Put down your eyes, your legs, your kidneys, and your
heart. Now cross off all the things you're OK with losing because
you'd rather smoke."
The ads that ran last year had immediate and strong impact.
Compared with the same 12-week period in 2011, overall call volume
to 1-800-QUIT-NOW more than doubled during the Tips campaign, and
visits to the campaign website for quit help increased by more than
five times.
More than 440,000 Americans each year lose their lives to
smoking-related diseases, and for every one death 20 more continue
living with one or more serious illnesses from smoking. Nearly 70
percent of smokers say they want to quit. This education campaign
provides motivation, information, and quit help to those who want
it.
For more information on the campaign, including profiles of the
former smokers, links to the ads, and free quit help, visit
www.cdc.gov/tips.