[Intl-tobacco] Tough anti-smoking ads making an impact: Poll (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Tough anti-smoking ads making an impact: Poll
63% of smokers aware of recent campaign
by  Jack Branswell   
CANADA;
Source: Toronto Star, Wednesday, 2/23/00
Jack Branswell /  Special to The Star

MONTREAL - Harder-hitting anti-smoking advertising is starting to
influence Canadians' impressions of the tobacco industry, a poll conducted
for the federal government concludes.

 The government and the anti-tobacco lobby are thrilled by poll results
that show seven out of 10 respondents, when asked directly, recalled
seeing an ad last year showing a woman named Debi smoking through a hole
in her throat.

 ``That is extremely good recall, especially seeing how that ad didn't
play very much,'' said Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians
for a Smoke-Free Canada.

 Health Canada spokesperson Lynn LeSage said the more aggressive
anti-smoking messages have proven effective in the United States so the
department decided to run them here.

 ``When you look at the fact that they (the ads) only ran for 16 weeks
during 1999, we think it (the recall) is - pretty impressive,'' LeSage
said.

 `We're trying to show people that smoking kills 45,000 people a year and
maybe that is the message we are trying to get out perhaps more than the
effect on the industry.' -
 Lynn LeSage,

 Health Canada

 In the Environics poll, obtained through the access to information law,
81 per cent of respondents said they had a very or somewhat negative
impression of the tobacco industry. It also found 88 per cent of those who
saw the ad featuring Debi thought its anti-tobacco message was effective.

 The ad - and others such as one showing a teenager talking about how her
mother, who died of cancer, will never see her graduate or get married -
marked a turning point in Health Canada's willingness to be both more
graphic and aggressive in its attack on the tobacco industry.

 Groups like the Non-Smokers' Rights Association have been calling for
aggressive tobacco control ads for a decade.

 ``This is a major step forward,'' said executive director Garfield
Mahood. ``The precedent has been established for harder-hitting ads and
(Health Minister Allan) Rock deserves a lot of credit.''

 The Environics survey was completed last fall, before Health Canada
released its latest weapon in the battle on smoking - graphic ads on
cigarette packages depicting rotting gums and other gruesome images.

 The survey and its accompanying report, prepared for the government,
concluded the new strategy is paying off.

 ``The government-sponsored anti-tobacco ads had a significant impact on
opinion about the industry in terms of recall'' among respondents, the
final report said.

 Among Canadians who recall seeing at least one of these ads, 42 per cent
said they ``made them more critical toward the tobacco industry and its
practices.''

 A larger share of respondents, 53 per cent, said the ads had no impact on
impressions of the industry.

But Health Canada officials said that is to be expected as the aggressive
ad approach is new to Canadians.

 ``We're trying to show people that smoking kills 45,000 people a year and
maybe that is the message we are trying to get out perhaps more than the
effect on the industry,'' said LeSage, who noted the department has other
programs aimed more directly at attacking tobacco companies.

 The poll found that, without being prompted, 52 per cent of respondents
recalled seeing an anti-smoking ad in recent months. But the figure was
higher among smokers - 63 per cent recalled seeing an ad.

 Environics polled 1,400 Canadians across the country.