Irish Cancer Society unveils ‘I’ll Quit When I’m 30’ campaign targeting young women
The Irish Cancer Society is launching a campaign aimed specifically at young women who smoke, encouraging them to choose a quit date and prepare for it.
Created by the Public Communications Centre, the ‘I’ll Quit When I’m 30’ advertisements are being launched to coincide with Ash Wednesday which is National No Smoking Day.
Online communications, social marketing and guerrilla advertising will be used to promote the campaign, which was created following concern from the Irish Cancer Society about the number of female smokers under 35.
Kathleen O’Meara, head of communications at the Irish Cancer Society, said: “Smoking is not just a behavioural habit, it is an addiction and one that women sometimes find harder to fight than men.
“We don’t believe that it is enough to treat nicotine addiction as a lifestyle issue. The U.S Surgeon General has said that smoking can be as addictive as heroin and users can have the same relationship with tobacco as those who are addicted to heroin. We need to start thinking of smoking in these terms and provide the same level of support to fight tobacco use in this country.
“We know that 70% of smokers want to quit and many women need professional and on-going support if they are to succeed in quitting and the nature of this support may be different from that needed by men.”