The Department of Health has joined forces with Channel 5 to promote its latest tobacco education campaign, `Don’t Give Up Giving Up’.The campaign, which was launched on January 1, 2000, features a series of credits to top and tail programmes.
The credits contain real life vox pops of smokers and will be shown at peak viewing times. Additionally, a regularly updated ticker tape of viewers names who have pledged to give up will be shown between programmes. Yvette Cooper, public health minister, said: “Seventy per cent of smokers want to give up, but many find it hard. That’s why it is important that this campaign reflects positive, pro-active and even humorous messages to encourage smokers who want to stop. This exciting relationship with Channel 5 is providing us with the perfect opportunity to achieve this.”
The campaign also features a series of billboard posters, a telephone helpline and website, television advertisements featuring quitting tips from smokers and real life video diaries.
It is intended that the adverts will help more than one million smokers give up in the new millennium, with charities estimating that over 1.3m people will try to give up smoking over the new year.
By the end of the first week in January 2000, more than 36,000 smokers had called the helpline – an increase of 250 per cent on last year.
This campaign is part of the government’s three year campaign to tackle the causes of the UK’s biggest killers – cancer, heart disease and stroke.