More People Attempt to Quit Smoking After a Mass-Media Ad Campaign

In the U.S., half of all smokers attempt to quit every year, but the annual sustained cessation rate is only 5%. Advice from physicians can boost quit rates, but such counseling is deterred by competing time demands and inadequate reimbursement. Sporadic mass-media antismoking campaigns have been undertaken in the U.S. and elsewhere, but their effect on smoking has not been measured carefully.

During 12 weeks in 2012, with US$54 million in funding from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the CDC presented its first nationwide, mass-media, antismoking campaign, in which former smokers described suffering caused by smoking and encouraged smokers to quit. Using a population-based sample of >3000 smokers, the CDC asked about recent q…