New QUIT smoking ads launched
[Posted: Tue 08/11/2011 by Deborah Condon irishhealth.com]
The HSE has launched a new phase of its QUIT campaign, aimed at getting people to stop smoking.
The campaign, which was launched last summer, focuses on the key fact that one in every two smokers dies of a tobacco-related illness. this latest phase of the campaign includes a new television advert and an online small film, which shows the reality of losing a loved to smoking.
The three-minute online film, which can be viewed here, features Pauline Bell, a Wexford mother of two, whose husband died of a heart attack two years ago at the age of just 48. he was a heavy smoker.
Commenting on the campaign’s approach, Dr Fenton Howell of the HSE explained that current research suggests that listening to personal tales can have a real impact on people trying to quit smoking.
“We spoke in detail to Irish smokers before we started this campaign and they told us that this ’1 in every 2′ statistic was powerful and that using real life tales to illustrate it would motivate them to stop smoking,” he said.
He added that the HSE was ‘very grateful’ to people like Pauline and her family, ‘who are bringing this campaign to life by telling their tales – they are central to the meaning and success of this campaign’.
Dr Howell insisted that the campaign was having a huge effect. for example, calls to the National Smokers’ Quitline since the campaign launch have jumped by 50% compared to the same period last year.
While welcoming this, Dr Howell emphasised that there are still about one million smokers in Ireland and one in every two of these will die of a smoking-related illness.
But, he added that there are also one million former smokers in Ireland ‘and in all my years working in this area, I have never met anyone who regretted quitting’.
Anyone interested in quitting smoking can call the National Smokers’ Quitline on 1850 201 203, visit quit.ie, join facebook.com/HSEquit, contact their local HSE smoking cessation counsellor or talk to their GP or pharmacist.
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