U.S. Backs New Grisly Antismoking Ads for Television

[Julian Englis]

The New York times has a rather in depth article on the new anti-smoking ads. These ads to stop smoking are very graphic and somewhat disturbing.

For the first time, the federal government will directly attack the nation’s tobacco addiction with a series of advertisements highlighting the grisly toll of smoking, a campaign that federal health officials hope will renew the stalled decline in the share of Americans who smoke.

The government’s investment in the campaign is relatively modest: $54 million this year. The tobacco industry spends that much and more, on average, in just two days of promotional efforts. California has spent about $20 million annually since 2000 on anti-tobacco advertising, while New York spent about $10 million annually between 2003 and 2009. Other states also finance such ads.

But the effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first in which such advertisements will be played throughout the country. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the C.D.C.’s director, said the campaign would save lives and money.

“We estimate that this campaign will help about 50,000 smokers to quit smoking,” Dr. Frieden said Wednesday in an interview. “And that will translate not only into thousands who will not die from smoking but it will pay for itself in a few years in reduced health costs.”

More at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/health/policy/cdc-finances-nationwide-antismoking-ad-campaign-a-first.html

[Devil_Fish]

1. Good luck with that...

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. We are joining other countries?

[Art_from_Ark]

3. For the first time?

Maybe the first time for the government, but this anti-smoking PSA from 1968 from the Heart Association was pretty grisly to me: