There can be no two opinions that media has a great influence over our lives. A study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention evaluating how the first-ever paid national tobacco education campaign - Tips From Former Smokers, has fared reveals some exciting news.
The $54 million, three-month campaign, highlighting the toll that smoking-related illnesses take on smokers and their loved ones, was aired from March 19 to June 10, 2012 using media channels like television, radio, print, out-of-home (e.g., billboards) and digital outlets to encourage people to quit smoking.
According to the CDC study, the Tips campaign resulted in 1.6 million smokers attempting to quit smoking while more than 200,000 Americans quit smoking immediately - with an estimated 100,000 likely to quit smoking permanently.
The results are well above the campaign's original goals of 500,000 quit attempts and 50,000 successful quits, say the researchers.
A second set of Tips ads were aired earlier this year and plans are underway for a new set of Tips ads in 2014. The initial results of the 2013 ads will be released later this year.
Commenting on the findings, Tim McAfee, director of the CDC Office on Smoking and Health, and lead author of the study, said, "Hard-hitting campaigns like 'Tips From Former Smokers' are great investments in public health. This study shows that we save a year of life for less than $200. That makes it one of the most cost-effective prevention efforts."
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 1,200 Americans every day, and it costs the nation $96 billion in direct health care expenses and $97 billion in lost productivity each year, according to the CDC.
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