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New Ads Warn of Tobacco Use Dangers

Published: 2011-01-04    Views:112 reads

Despite all we know about the dangers of tobacco use and the progress we have made in reducing it, smoking continues to be the leading preventable cause of death in Florida and across the country, killing more than 28,000 Floridians and 400,000 Americans every year. Tobacco use also takes a terrible toll on Florida's economy, causing more than $6 billion per year in health care costs.

Fortunately, thanks to a voter initiative in 2006, Florida is one of the few states that are investing some of its tobacco settlement revenue in a comprehensive tobacco prevention and cessation program.

Tobacco Free Florida is a statewide program that focuses on youth prevention and helping smokers quit Based on Best Practices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,it combines a public awareness media campaign with community-based interventions and help and encouragement for smokers to quit to reduce tobacco use in the state.

Recently, the program launched a new set of television advertisements that not only demonstrate the adverse health effects of tobacco use, but also offer valuable information about the ability to reverse the damage from smoking by quitting.

Based on their effectiveness in New York City and other markets, the Florida Department of Health and Bureau of Tobacco Prevention Program chose ads titled, "Reverse the Damage" to run statewide. These ads generated 46,000 new calls to the New York City quitline in just the initial 16 days of broadcast. Youth smoking rates in New York City have also dropped to 8.5 percent.

In addition to their proven effectiveness, the use of these ads made available through the CDC saves the state considerable resources by avoiding the production costs of creating new ads.

Our hope and expectation is that Florida's youth will get the message about the dangers of smoking and that Florida's smokers will be motivated to call the Florida Quitline at 1-877-U-CAN-NOW to take advantage of the free resources available to them. This is exactly what is happening. Since the advertisements began airing on Nov. 29, calls to the Florida Quitline have increased by 141 percent.

As members of the Florida Tobacco Education and Use Prevention Advisory Council, our job is to help ensure that the program spends its resources wisely on interventions that work. As vice president for research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, I have reviewed dozens of media campaigns and the evidence supporting them.

The research is clear that striking and emotionally charged ads give smokers compelling reasons to quit and are effective in prompting quit attempts and discouraging youth from starting to smoke. We are already seeing this in the early response to the new campaign.

While these hard-hitting ads may make some uncomfortable, the death, disease, and suffering caused by tobacco use are far more devastating and give all Floridians great cause for concern.

With the tobacco companies spending almost $13 billion per year marketing their deadly products and 4,000 American kids trying their first cigarette every day, it is exactly this kind of evidence-based campaign that is needed.

Source from: Sun-sentinel
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