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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.

Although smoking has dropped among Hispanic/Latino people in recent years—from more than 1 smoker in every 6 people (or 16.2%) in 2005 to about 1 in 10 (or 10.1%) in 2015—public health experts say it hasn’t gone down as far as it could or should. Cigarette smoking adds to a person’s risk for cancer, heart disease, and stroke, which are among the leading causes of death for Hispanics/Latinos in the United States.

Among Hispanic/Latino men, 13.1% smoke cigarettes, or about 1 in every 7 men. Among Hispanic/Latina women, 7.1% smoke cigarettes, or about 1 in every 14 women.

Rose and Felicita are two Hispanic women featured in CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers^® TV ads that are run in both English and Spanish. Rose started smoking at just 13 years of age and continued for many years, and Felicita started smoking when she was just 12 years old.

In her thirties and forties, Felicita already had bleeding gums and loose teeth, but she didn’t realize that smoking could make the problems in her mouth much worse. By the time Felicita quit smoking, it was too late to save her teeth. “I feel like I destroyed my health and my appearance with cigarettes,” she said.

Rose’s addiction caused her to lose a foot because of clogged blood vessels—and then caused lung cancer, which later spread to her brain. Rose had chemotherapy, radiation, and two surgeries.

“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.”

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.

Rose wished that she had more days to spend with her friends and family—especially her three grandchildren, who meant the world to her. Like everyone in the Tips campaign, she hoped that sharing her story would encourage other people to quit smoking before they get sick. Sadly, she died in January 2015 at age 60 from cancer caused by smoking.

“Cigarettes harm. They kill,” said Rose. “Try your best to quit. And if you don’t smoke, don’t pick it up. It’s not worth it.”

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).