National Tobacco Campaign
Artery Damage
Lung Damage
What is the National Tobacco Campaign?
The National Tobacco Campaign is a collaborative quit-smoking health initiative between the Australian Government, State and Territory governments and non-government organisations.
Most anti-smoking advertising campaigns warn smokers they are at risk of ill-health or death. This hard-hitting campaign takes a new tack.
Instead of focusing on abstract concepts like risk and probability, it provides graphic images of the damage cigarettes can contribute to a smoker's health.
Why a New Approach?
Changes in the health behaviour of populations boil down to the decisions and actions of individuals. Yet public health campaigns directed at smokers have consistently focused on the sizeable tobacco-caused illness and death burden for the community overall with the hope that this information alone will affect individual smoking behaviour."We have endlessly broadcast the devastating statistics about the risk of smoking," said Dr David Hill, Chairman of the Ministerial Tobacco Advisory Group (MTAG).
"This approach has met with limited success, one reason being that smokers sometimes translate warnings about risk into terms such as:
Smoking is like buying a ticket in a lottery that is drawn when you reach 70, and that's a risk I am prepared to take."
For this campaign, MTAG started its planning from the perspective of the individual smoker.
"The focus on this perspective led us to review more than a hundred Quit campaign studies of smokers conducted around Australia during the past decade," Dr Hill said. "A consistent theme from smokers was their call for new angles on health effects, and for information and graphic portrayals of how smoking affects the individual."
The campaign devised during the past year aims to help smokers recognise that every cigarette they smoke is doing damage, even though they cannot feel this at the time. It is an important message that has been absent from many previous campaigns. The damage seen in the advertisements connects the individual smoker personally with the dire statistics of tobacco-caused illness and death.
Dr Hill, a psychologist who heads the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer at the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria, said psychological theories of behaviour change supported the latest approach.
"People's own experiences are far more likely to influence their behaviour than facts and figures, especially if that experience has had an emotional impact", he said. "The campaign is designed to personally involve the smoker by taking them on a journey through their own body. We believe that the advertisements will produce a strong and emotional response".
One of the advertisements being launched concerns the damage smoking causes to blood vessels and draws attention to the process of heart disease.
Artery Damage
Arteries are the expressways for blood cells laden with oxygen to reach all parts of the body.Smoking causes a build-up of fatty deposits in the artery walls and causes blood cells to stick to these walls and to each other.
A build-up of fatty streaks and fat-filled lesions impairs blood flow and reduces artery diameter, contributing to poor circulation, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.
Brainstorming sessions between cardiologists and the Sydney advertising agency Brown Melhuish Fishlock (BMF) led to the graphic representation of artery wall fat deposits seen in the television and press advertisements. The agency photographed actual autopsy specimens, created illustrative latex models of a major human abdominal artery and used computer imaging techniques in post-production to create a realistic effect.
The quantity of fatty material depicted resulted from cardiovascular research by Dr Henry McGill of San Antonio in Texas, and its appearance and consistency was arrived at through discussions with Sydney cardiologist, Dr David Celermajer.
The second advertisement focuses on the damage smoking causes to lung tissue and shows the progressive degeneration brought about by tobacco smoke.
Lung Damage
Smoking ravages the lungs in several ways. It paralyses and ultimately destroys the fine hair-like projections lining the airways which otherwise sweep debris such as foreign particles and phlegm from the lungs. Smoking also damages the fine alveolae or air sacs through which life-giving oxygen passes into the blood in exchange for the gaseous waste product, carbon dioxide.The lungs of a smoker consistently function below their potential as a result and this has negative consequences for all body tissues.
The exchange of ideas between thoracic and respiratory specialists and BMF gave the agency the concept of filming within the body for the first time, resulting in the arresting experience of the viewer travelling along the airways into the lung surrounded by tobacco smoke. The agency created realistic models of lung tissue with ongoing advice from thoracic specialists and, once again, employed computer imaging techniques in the post-production phase.
Scientific Backing and Ongoing Assessment
Scientists and medical experts have been involved in the campaign from an early stage and have verified that the advertisements are a fair representation of the pathological impact of smoking on blood vessels and lungs.What is the National Tobacco Campaign?
A collaborative quit-smoking health initiative between federal, state, and territory governments and non-government organisations. This is the first time all have come together on this scale in a campaign to reduce smoking.The multi-tiered campaign combines hard-hitting advertising with:
- nationally coordinated Quitline services for smokers
- endorsed partnerships with key health and medical bodies
- the participation of doctors Australia-wide
- a campaign website
- national media promotions.
What is the primary aim of the campaign?
To move Australian smokers a step closer to quitting by encouraging them to put the words 'give up smoking' on their personal agenda for today, rather than on the list of 'things I'll do in the future'.What are the campaign messages?
- Every cigarette is doing you damage
- It's not just a risk - it's a certainty that smoking will damage your health
- Smoking damages your arteries, lungs and eyesight
- There is a nationally coordinated effort to help you quit.
The campaign advertisements have been seen around Australia on television and radio, in newspapers, on buses, posters, and on Doctor's Television.
Who does the campaign target?
The National Tobacco Campaign targets 18 - 40 year old smokers.The campaign's advertisements have been extensively pre-tested with groups of smokers from the target audience to ensure that the campaign carries messages which will be meaningful to smokers.
Who are the other national partners collaborating on the campaign?
- The Australian Medical Association
- The Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners
- Divisions of General Practice
- The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
- The Pharmacy Guild
- The National Heart Foundation
- The Australian Cancer Society
- The National Asthma Campaign
What is the Quitline?
Quitline is a telephone information and advice or counselling service for people who want to quit smoking.You can phone the Quitline on 131 848 from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local call only. It's a confidential service and the lines are open 24 hours a day.
When you call the Quitline you can arrange to have the Quit Book mailed to you and if you want to talk to someone about quitting, they will give you information on:
- the best way for you to quit
- coping with withdrawal symptoms
- Quit courses and details of local organisations which provide individual help and counselling.