CDC: Graphic Anti-Smoking Campaign Successful, More Ads Coming Next Year

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Monday its graphic ad campaign featuring the health consequences of smoking has been successful, and plans more ads for 2013, USA Today reports.

The ads ran for three months earlier this year, at a cost of $54 million. The campaign’s goal was to convince 500,000 people to try quitting smoking, and 50,000 to quit long-term, the article notes.

“The initial results suggest the impact will be even greater than that,” said CDC Director Thomas Frieden. The ads showed smokers who spoke about how smoking caused health problems including paralysis, lung removal and amputations.

According to the CDC, call volume to its national toll-free quit line, 800-QUIT-NOW, more than doubled while the ads ran. The hotline received an additional 192,000 calls, while the government’s smoking cessation website, www.smokefree.gov, received 417,000 new visitors—triple its previous traffic.