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No smoking day: history of a public
health campaign
Ben Youden
Abstract
No Smoking Day has been running for 23 years. This makes
it one of the most consistent running smoking cessation
campaigns in the world.
On the first No Smoking Day in 1984 smoking prevalence
in the UK was 36% of adults, tobacco adverts could still
be seen on TV and in magazines, smoking was allowed in
cinemas and on buses and there was barely any cessation
support available. Now smoking rates are 25% and declining,
advertising is banned, the NHS provides cessation support
and smoking in public places is on its way out.
Despite the huge changes in health and smoking, 22 years
of rigorous evaluation shows that year on year the 'badges
and balloons' No Smoking Day campaign achieves a massive
health impact. In recent years the campaign achieved some
of its biggest results ever, with over 1.6 million quit
attempts on
No Smoking Day 2005. In this current environment, No Smoking
Day is more relevant than ever with more smokers than
ever using it as a quit date. The impact of No Smoking
Day has remained high for over twenty years although the
core message behind the campaign has never changed. With
twenty years of success behind it, No Smoking Day reviews
its position as a major public health event.
Biography
Ben Youdan is the Chief Executive of No Smoking Day and
has been with the charity for 4 years. He has worked on
secondment to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in the
UK and for ASH New Zealand, has presented at major conferences
around the world and currently represents the tobacco
control community in the UK to the European Network for
Smoking Prevention. Prior to joining No Smoking Day, Ben
was President of the Student Union at York University
where he studied Social Policy.
Ben Youden
Chief Executive, No smoking day
ben@nosmokingday.org.uk
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