New anti-smoking campaigns launched

Quit has just launched two mass media social marketing campaigns to prompt people who smoke to start their quit journey.

The new “One Step” and “Sounds Like” campaigns will run until April 26, across Victorian radio, digital and across community and outdoor settings.

“One Step” targets the estimated 147,900 Victorian adults who predominantly smoke with no intention to quit in the next month and low confidence in their ability to do so. These people are typically older (92 per cent are at least 30 years old), 94 per cemt smoke daily and 55 per cent have attempted to quit, but not in the past year.

“We have used these insights about Victorians to develop a new campaign challenging the perception that you have to be ready to quit,” Quit director Rachael Andersen said.

“It encourages people to break down quitting into small achievable steps, enhancing their confidence and motivation to give quitting a go.”

“Sounds Like” will run simultaneously, and is a campaign targeting the estimated 406,700 Victorians who predominantly smoke, have high confidence they can quit, yet no intention to do so in the next month.

This campaign motivates quit attempts among this group by emphasising the concerning symptoms of smoking-related damage, such as coughing, wheezing, struggling to breathe or experiencing bleeding gums.

Both campaigns encourage people who smoke to seek support by contacting Quitline for access to free, non-judgemental telephone counselling throughout their quitting journey.

“We know there’s no one right way to quit, and it may take many attempts,” Ms Andersen said,

“It’s important we target our Quit campaigns to support people wherever they are on their quitting journey. There are lives on the line.

“It’s important we craft our Quit campaigns to give people who smoke reasons to want to stop, and help them know they have our support to quit. Their health is at stake and Quit is here to help.”

Despite Australia’s success with driving down smoking prevalence (8.3 per cent daily smokers in 2022-23 compared to 24.3 per cent in 1991), 24,000 Australians are dying annually from smoking-related illness, equivalent to 66 people every day.

For support to stop smoking or vaping, message Quitline on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger @QuitVic, start a live chat through quit.org.au or request a call back at a time that suits you from Monday to Friday between 8am and 8pm.