The Utah Department of Health has launched a new ad campaign for people who want to quit smoking. The effort focuses on people trying to kick the habit one day at a time.
The “Quitting For Real” campaign showcases television commercials that portray former smokers going through every day struggles as they fight the urge to light up again. Adam Bramwell of the Utah Department of Health says that after several failed attempts, many smokers get into the mindset that no matter what they do, they’ll never break their habit.
“Over the past few years we’ve shown a lot of commercials that have been very hard-hitting and graphic, and these kind of change the conversation a little bit. They show smokers that we know it’s hard, but you can quit for real. It can be done.”
Bramwell says the campaign is taking a different direction than most anti-tobacco ads.
“There’s not a lot of anti-tobacco commercials on the national front that have this kind of inspirational, hopeful message. So we wanted to get into that field and teach smokers that ‘Hey, if you’re one of those eighty percent of smokers that want to quit, here’s some hope, here’s a fresh way to look at things.’”
He says people who see a slip-up as a complete failure have much lower chances of completely. Those who see a slip-up as a mistake they can recover from, will have an easier time “quitting for real.”