Hard-hitting ad campaign targets smokers

HEALTH promoters are hitting smokers where it hurts — pulling not on their pockets but on their heartstrings.

A series of hard-hitting TV ads which began airing last night use real-life stories of people affected by cigarettes to try to convince smokers to kick the habit.

The ads, devised by the Health Service Executive (HSE), feature people such as teenager Margaret O’Brien from Kilkenny, who will sit her Leaving Certificate this summer without her mum to cheer her on.

Jackie, a lifelong smoker, died a year-and-a-half ago at the age of 46 after surviving just one year following her diagnosis with lung cancer. Margaret, who shaved her head last year to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society, speaks of the gap her death has left in her own life.

In another ad, widow and mother-of-two Pauline Bell from Wexford tells of the devastating loss of husband George to a heart attack at the age of 48, just hours after they had spoken of plans for an early retirement and a new life abroad.

The message intended to be driven home by the €800,000 campaign is the blunt fact that half of all smokers will die of a disease that is directly linked to their smoking.

Director of public health with the HSE, Fenton Howell, said most people did not realise the statistic was so stark — or that it translated to 5,500 deaths from tobacco-related diseases in Ireland every year.

“Before we started out with the campaign, we were struck in our focus groups how that actually shocked the smokers in the room. They almost questioned could it possibly be true.”

Dr Howell also defended the cost of the campaign: “Every single admission to hospital costs €8,000. If we prevent 100 admissions in a year, this campaign would more than pay for itself.”

The HSE is running a number of supports for smokers, including a helpline, 1850 201 203, a website, quit.ie and a Facebook page, facebook.com/HSEquit. The ads can also be watched on Youtube by searching for “1 in 2”.