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New Public Health Program Shows Smokers How to Become an EX
10/30/2006
Pilot Program from American Legacy Foundation Focus on How to Quit, Instead of Why
WASHINGTON, D.C. –A new public health program, EXSM, is being piloted in select American cities to show smokers how they can quit, instead of preaching about why they should. Created by the American Legacy Foundation, the pilot campaign aims to change smokers’ attitudes about the difficult process of quitting smoking, and points them to valuable resources to guide their quit attempt.
Pilot markets include Buffalo, New York; San Antonio, Texas; Grand Rapids, Michigan and Baltimore, Md. Testing began in Buffalo in late September, and the other pilots will launch in the last quarter of 2006 and first of 2007. Each market was selected based on its ability to test EX with differing population groups.
Most smokers in America – 70 percent – want to quit, but in 2000, only about five percent were successful in quitting long-term. The foundation, which is best known for its truth® youth-smoking prevention campaign, underscores the fact that while smokers may know why they should quit, they often report that they don’t know how. Therefore, EX steers away from preaching to smokers about the reasons for quitting and instead empowers them with FREE resources and methods that have been proven to increase smokers’ chances of quitting successfully. EX encourages smokers who want to quit to:
1. Call the national toll-free 1-800-QUIT-NOW for personalized coaching;
2. Visit BecomeAnEX.org, where smokers can develop their own customized quit plans online and connect with a community of other smokers trying to quit; and
3. Order a free copy of the Become an EX Quit Manual, which debunks many of the myths associated with quitting, including nicotine replacement therapy, and gives smokers a step-by-step plan to break nicotine addiction. (The EX Quit Manual will be made available to local residents through the 1-800-QUIT-NOW telephone number and the BecomeAnEX.org website.)
“Most smokers who want to quit do not understand what it takes to conquer their nicotine addiction, or they underestimate how powerful that addiction can be,” says American Legacy Foundation President and CEO Cheryl Healton, Dr. P.H. “The approach provided by EX changes that equation by showing them how they can quit – namely by combining coaching, pharmacotherapy and social support, so that smokers have the support that they need at the times when they’re most likely to crave a cigarette and smoke.”
Legacy intends for EX to be a collaborative multi-channel program that uses advertising as well as partnerships with local public health and community organizations to provide information to the majority of smokers who want to quit. In each market the foundation is working with the local health departments, hospitals or universities to connect smokers to local services.
EX tools were designed in collaboration with clinical experts at the Mayo Clinic and with input from former and current smokers who have lived with this struggle, in order to provide smokers with a realistic approach based on sound research.
The BecomeAnEX.org Web site and Become an EX Quit Manual offer helpful quit-smoking information on planning, medication, counseling/coaching and social support, all of which when used together have been proven to reduce the physical, mental and even emotional barriers that can make quitting smoking such a challenge. In addition, those using the Become an EX approach can:
· Create customized quit plans – including selecting a quit date and determining their own smoking “triggers” -- that will help them prevent relapses throughout their quit attempt;
· Converse with others who are trying to quit, through an online community, since social support is a significant factor in helping smokers to quit;
· Access smoking cessation counseling online, or call the national stop smoking quit line 1-800-QUIT-NOW; and
· Learn more about pharmacotherapy resources, such as nicotine replacement patches, lozenges, gum and prescription medications.
Creative for EX was produced by Austin, Texas-based GSD&M, the American Legacy Foundation’s agency of record for its smoking cessation advertising.
The American Legacy Foundation® is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking, EXsm, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting, research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use, and nationally renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.americanlegacy.org/.
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Contact: Patricia McLaughlin, (202) 454-5560