Skip to content ↓
Press Room

India’s Powerful New Ad Campaign Shows How Second-hand Smoke Causes Stroke and Heart Attacks

Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”

(New Delhi, India and New York, USA) – World Lung Foundation today welcomed a powerful new anti-tobacco mass media campaign currently being broadcast on TV and radio channels in India, which shows how exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) causes stroke and heart attack. According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, over half of adults in India are exposed to SHS at home and around 30% of adults are exposed to SHS at work. The ad campaign, entitled Clinical, was developed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with technical and financial support from World Lung Foundation.

The hard-hitting ad is designed to motivate smokers of cigarettes and bidis to avoid exposing others to second-hand smoke and to motivate non-smokers to avoid exposure to second-hand smoke. It graphically depicts a woman who sits near a smoker becoming exposed to SHS that enters her bloodstream and changes her blood platelets in a way that increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Clinical was filmed in India and its effectiveness was assessed in test screenings among Indian audiences. During this rigorous message-testing protocol, the campaign was found to be highly effective in communicating the harms of SHS, particularly on the heart.

The Clinical campaign began airing nationwide on March 3rd, 2015 and will run for four weeks. It is being broadcast in 17 languages on all major private television and radio channels and on the government’s Lok Sabha channel in Hindi language.

Speaking about the campaign, Mr. C.K. Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said: “India continues to be consistent in delivering blunt warnings about the harms of tobacco. Millions of Indians suffer from health harms related to tobacco use, so our objective with this campaign is to warn people about the deadly dangers of smoking bidis and cigarettes as well as their harmful effects on those who are exposed to second-hand smoke. We intend to continue to air graphic, hard-hitting ads such as Clinical to keep reminding people that they urgently need to quit smoking and to stop exposing others to second-hand smoke.”

Dr. Nandita Murukutla, Country Director for India, World Lung Foundation, added: “With its policies of curbing tobacco marketing in films and television programs through anti-tobacco advertising, disclaimers and warning scrolls, India is now considered an example of global best practice in this aspect of tobacco control. WLF is delighted to assist the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in developing anti-tobacco public service announcements like Clinical, to continue to support such policies. We hope this campaign will stop smokers from exposing others to the toxic smoke from bidis and cigarettes and, better yet, will encourage them to stop using tobacco entirely.”

Research has shown mass media campaigns are one of the most effective means to prompt people to stop smoking. It is one of the World Health Organization’s M-P-O-W-E-R (W=Warn) strategies to reduce tobacco consumption. M-P-O-W-E-R strategies are endorsed and promoted by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, of which World Lung Foundation is a principal partner.

The ‘Clinical’ TV and radio public service announcements, and print and outdoor designs are available upon request. It is also available at WLF’s South Asia Mass Media Resource www.southasiammr.org. The ad is adapted from an original concept first used by the State of California, USA.