The Impact of Cdc's Tips From Former Smokers 2012 Campaign

Background: Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 440,000 Americans annually. More than 8 million Americans are living with a smoking-related disease, and every day more than 1,000 youth under 18 become daily smokers. Smoking shortens life expectancy by more than 10 years and adds almost $200 billion in annual costs resulting from medical expenses and lost productivity. Adults who quit smoking before 45 gain almost a decade in life expectancy, yet the long-term decline in smoking has slowed in recent years.  Mass media campaigns at the state and local level have motivated smokers to quit, but have often been conducted only occasionally or with low exposure levels.

Program background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a graphic national anti-smoking mass media education campaign “Tips From Former Smokers” (Tips) in 2012. Tips featured emotional, graphic, true stories told by former smokers to increase awareness of the human suffering caused by smoking, encourage quitting, and motivate nonsmokers to communicate with family and friends about the dangers of smoking. Building on the success of the 2012 Tips from Former Smokers campaign, CDC launched a new round of advertisements in April 2013. The campaign continues to educate the public about the negative health effects of both smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. 

Evaluation Methods and Results: We conducted baseline and follow-up surveys of nationally representative cohorts of adult smokers and non-smokers. Changes in outcomes such as quit attempts and cigarette consumption among smokers and cessation support behavior and communication about the dangers of smoking among nonsmokers were measured.  78.5% of smokers and 73.5% of nonsmokers recalled seeing at least one Tips ad on television during the 12-week campaign.  Calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW increased 132% during the campaign, representing over 200,000 additional calls, and over 500,000 additional unique visitors above baseline rates accessed www.smokefree.gov during the campaign. A significant increase in quit attempts and decrease in daily cigarette consumption among smokers in the U.S. was observed.  A significant increase in the number of nonsmokers recommending cessation services and talking with friends and family about dangers of smoking was seen. 

Conclusions: A high-exposure national media campaign was effective in increasing population-level quit attempts and reducing daily cigarette consumption.  The increase in quit attempts observed translates into a substantial number of projected sustained quits for 6-months or more.  The campaign was also successful in influencing nonsmokers’ cessation support behavior. 

Implications for research and/or practice: While Tips demonstrated a short-term effect on quit attempts, decay in mass media campaign effects has been observed. CDC is airing the Tips campaign in 2013 with new creative executions.  Ongoing mass media campaigns, along with effective policy and regulatory interventions can save millions of premature deaths and curb costs from medical expenses and lost productivity associated with smoking-related disease, disability and death.