This prewritten matte article about the Tips From Former Smokers^® campaign is ready for adaptation and use by churches and other faith communities.

CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers^® Campaign To Air Hard-Hitting Commercials Beginning January 2017

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is continuing its national tobacco education campaign—Tips From Former Smokers^® (Tips^®)—with hard-hitting TV commercials that feature real people who have experienced the harms caused by smoking. The campaign ads, which will air beginning January 2017, will again highlight the immediate and long-term damage caused by smoking, and encourage smokers to quit. Faith leaders across the country are also encouraging their members who smoke to quit for good so they can be around for their families and friends.

“We know what needs to be done to protect our kids and families from the toll tobacco takes, and we have a moral obligation to reduce smoking and protect everyone from exposure to secondhand smoke,” said [INSERT NAME OF LOCAL OR NATIONAL FAITH LEADER]. “The death and disease caused by tobacco is a serious challenge to all faiths. We cannot stand idly by while tobacco use continues to be the number one preventable cause of death and disease in the country.”

CDC launched the first Tips campaign in 2012 to lower smoking rates and save lives, and the campaign has been very successful in every year since then. Results of a CDC study published in the medical journal, The Lancet, show that in 2012 an estimated 1.64 million smokers tried to quit during the 2012 campaign period, and about 100,000 of them quit for good. After the launch of the nine-week long 2014 campaign, 1.83 million smokers attempted to quit smoking and an estimated 104,000 quit smoking for good.

The Tips ads show that smoking causes a variety of severe health problems, including asthma, cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Unfortunately, even though smoking rates have declined over the years—from 20.9% in 2005 to 15.1% in 2015—tobacco use still results in far too many deaths, disabilities, and smoking-related illnesses in the United States.

“Most smokers want to quit. They don’t want to suffer or be a burden on their families,” said Corinne Graffunder, DrPH, MPH, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “By showing how real people and their families are affected by smoking-related diseases, the Tips campaign can help motivate people to quit for good.”

For more information about the Tips campaign and resources for quitting smoking, visit CDC.gov/tips. For help quitting, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669.)