Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”
(October 30th, 2015, Islamabad, Pakistan, and New York, USA) – World Lung Foundation (WLF) today congratulated the Government of Pakistan on the launch of its first national anti-tobacco mass media campaign to focus on the health harms of tobacco. The campaign features a public service announcement (PSA) called “Tobacco Is Hollowing You Out”, that graphically highlights the many harmful illnesses caused by tobacco use, including lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and oral cancers.
The PSA will be broadcast on national TV channels to run during November and 30,000 posters will be distributed through health centres and schools across Pakistan. The communication campaign is implemented by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (MoH) with technical and financial support from WLF.
The 30-second PSA is designed to turn tobacco users’ thoughts about quitting into active quit attempts by showing the real health harms of tobacco use. “Tobacco Is Hollowing You Out” graphically shows that tobacco causes damage to nearly every vital organ and tissue of the body.
It opens with the silhouette of a man smoking a bidi/cigarette and goes on to show the health harms of his habit, with images of a real human heart beating progressively faster, a healthy lung turning black, a cancerous mouth, rotting teeth, a cancerous throat, and clogged arteries that can cause stroke. The PSA ends with the message that “Tobacco Kills – Quit Today!”
The concept was originally developed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, extensively pre-tested, and used effectively in Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam, among other countries.
The Deputy Director, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Dr. Samra Mazhar said: “We thank World Lung Foundation for supporting the Ministry in launching this first of its kind campaign on tobacco control in Pakistan. This campaign will bring our country into line with other countries who are showing young people the truth about tobacco. The message in the campaign is clear. The message encourages smokers and other tobacco users to seriously consider their tobacco use and Quit Today!”
The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) Pakistan (2014) found that 31.8 percent of adult men and 5.8 percent of women use tobacco in any form; 22.2 percent of men and 2.1 percent of women currently smoke tobacco.
While nearly 88 percent of smokers believe that smoking causes serious illness, only a quarter (24.7 percent) had tried to quit in the past year and only 22.3 percent planned to or were thinking about quitting. According to The Tobacco Atlas, tobacco use is the cause of 12.2 percent of deaths among men and 4.5 percent of deaths among women, killing over 2,000 Pakistanis every week.
Sandra Mullin, Senior Vice President, Policy and Communications, World Lung Foundation commented, “We congratulate the Ministry of Health on the launch of this important campaign – the first national mass media communication campaign in Pakistan to show how tobacco use harms virtually every organ of the human body. The recent GATS report confirmed that smokers in Pakistan are aware that smoking causes harm, but too few are translating this into an intention to quit. Graphic campaigns like “Tobacco Is Hollowing You Out” show the specific harms of tobacco use in a powerful way that helps to encourage smoking cessation and deter youth from starting to smoke tobacco.
“In fact, a similar campaign in another country encouraged more than seven (7) million tobacco users to make a quit attempt. We are delighted to have supported the design and implementation of this campaign and trust that it will start to create much greater awareness and debate around the harms of tobacco, in advance of the implementation of large new graphic health warnings on tobacco packs.
“Real synergies will be achieved and lives saved by using anti-tobacco mass media campaigns and graphic warnings on tobacco packaging – countering misinformation from the tobacco industry, raising awareness of the actual harms of tobacco across the population, deterring youth from initiating smoking and encouraging smokers to quit. With concerted government action, Pakistan can combat the growing tobacco epidemic.”
The PSA and stills and transcripts from the PSA are available upon request.
Research has shown that mass media campaigns and large graphic pack warnings are among the most effective means to encourage people to stop using tobacco. Hard-hitting campaigns and images can compel tobacco users to quit, increase knowledge of the health risks of tobacco use, and promote behavior change in both smokers and non-smokers.
They are featured in the World Health Organization’s M-P-O-W-E-R (W=Warn) strategies to reduce tobacco consumption. MPOWER strategies are endorsed and promoted by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, of which World Lung Foundation is a principal partner.