Toll-Free Takes on Tobacco. How have the hotlines helped?

Evidenced by generations past, we’ve seen how effective tobacco marketing can be toward pushing people to pick up a pack and start smoking. This isn’t so much the case today in the United States, but this is still a vital reality on the other side of the globe. Today we see more advertisements aimed at helping people put down packs rather than pick them up. The challenge, however, lies in making these advertisements as effective as those from back in the day that—very successfully—targeted youths into making smoking seem cool and a means toward social acceptance.

Several of the commercials including, but not limited to, former smokers sticking cigarettes directly inside of a hideously-exposed trachea, ways to deal with peer-pressuring teenagers, dramatizations showcasing the harmful effects of the additives in the cigarettes or factual evidence of what tobacco does to the human lungs have showcased an effective sense of progress. In addition, another effective means of assisting smokers alike to cut back and start on the path of quitting has been the use of toll-free number services—or Quitlines.

Stateside and beyond, these hotlines have reported results by offering personal counseling as well as programs and assistance dedicated to help recovering smokers overcome the difficulty of nicotine withdrawals. Just recently released by Marketwatch, a study has shown that the “Tips from Former Smokers” ad campaign has yielded 200,000 additional calls to the 1-800-QUIT-NOW, reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “These initial results suggest that the campaign will help even more people quit than we had hoped, exceeding our already high expectations,” said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “More than two thirds of all smokers want to quit. People who smoke die sooner and live in illness. This campaign is saving lives and saving money.”

And how effective have these Quitlines worked? A recent study in New Zealand reported that 24.2% of the people who have called the hotline or reached out to the www.quit.org.nz website have managed to remain absolutely smoke-free within the last six months.

In contrast to these programs, the tobacco industry still shells out about $10 billion annually to make cigarettes look cool. The costs of the successful anti-tobacco campaigns cost the CDC a total around $54 million, making it not only effective but efficient.