Posters outside the FDA’s anti-tobacco campaign news conference Tuesday feature high school kids addicted to nicotine.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched its first national campaign against youth tobacco use Tuesday.
“The Real Cost” campaign targets “on the cusp” teenagers, ages 12 to 17, according to Dr. Margaret Hamburg, FDA Commissioner of Food and Drugs.
President Barack Obama granted the FDA authority to regulate the tobacco industry under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009. The FDA is able to regulate manufacturing, distribution and marketing.
Each day, almost 3,900 kids under the age of 18 try their first cigarette, data from American Lung Association website shows.
“We are not talking about kids who are happy-go-lucky,” FDA Center for Tobacco Products Director Mitch Zeller said at a news conference.
Ads made by the Real Cost campaign are directed at kids who use tobacco once or twice to escape adolescent problems, such as troubles at home and school. They are at risk of developing heavy smoker habits, the FDA says
Sixty-eight percent of adult smokers started smoking at 18 or younger, the American Lung Association reports.
The campaign says the “real cost” of smoking is more than money. The new FDA ads include images of a young man yanking out his teeth and a teenage girl peeling off a piece of her skin to represent the physical effects of being a smoker. One reads, “Even when you bum a smoke, you’re still paying.”
The FDA will use its “hard-hitting mass media campaigns to deglamorize tobacco use,” said Dr. Howard Koh, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A campaign called truth®, started in 1999, also uses social media and public displays to advertise against tobacco. Truth®, which is specifically for the youth population, is funded by the American Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit that researches changes in tobacco use over time.
The American Journal of Preventative Medicine showed correlation between the foundation’s campaign efforts and keeping teens becoming heavy smokers. But, the foundation started facing funding problems in 2003.
The FDA campaign will cost taxpayers $115 million for television ads and urban bus stop posters. The FDA will also run spots on social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube.
“We are going to fish where the fish are,” said Kathy Crosby of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products.
Crosby said she believes teens know the effects of nicotine addiction in the long term. But, the campaign focuses on teens who sporadically smoke — the kids who “don’t consider themselves smokers.”
A person who has smoked 100 or more cigarettes defines the term “smoker.” Most teen smokers report that they would “like to quit, but are not able to do so,” according to the American Lung Association.
College student Daniel Giuffra gave a personal testimonial about his past tobacco use.
“I wanted to understand why something could have such a strong grip on somebody,” Giuffra said. Giuffra was awarded national Youth Advocate of the Year Award, a commemoration for working with the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
The campaign “allows teens to rethink their relationship with tobacco” to help youths like Giuffra avoid nicotine addiction, Crosby said.
