In 2012, before the CDC launched its campaign, smoking was one of the leading causes of preventable premature deaths in America, and it was estimated to take around 450,000 lives a year (Harris, 2012). When analyzing the CDC’s mission statement, pledge, and roles, it is clear that the Tips campaign supports its vision because smoking has been scientifically proven to increase both long term and short term health issues, as well as premature death. The cost of smoking was also a serious concern for the CDC. Annually, smoking cost the United States 96 billion dollars in medical costs and 97 billion in depletion of productivity (McAfee et al., 2013).
The Challenge of Targeting Smokers:
The Tips campaign’s main public were current smokers. Smokers are a group of individuals that a strong-minded when it comes to the reasons of why they smoke. In 1964, the U.S. Public Health Service’s Surgeon General, Luther L. Terry, M.D. first announced the dangerous of smoking, and soon after that it became a law that tobacco companies had to put warning labels on all of their products (“Dr. Luther L. Terry,” 1985). It is because of this that the phenomenon of them knowing the health risk they face when smoking,
…show more content…
Also, to convince smokers to stop smoking around others to protect the public from secondhand smoke. Its target audience was smokers between the ages of 18 to 54, but it also took into consideration families of smokers, health care professionals, and religious communities (“About the Campaign,” 2018). The CDC had three primary messages:
1. Smoking causes immediate damage to your body, which can lead to long-term health problems.
2. For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
3. Now is the time to quit smoking. If you need help, free assistance is available by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW (“About the Campaign,”