UK - Anti-smoking advertising is more effective than GPs in convincing smokers to quit, according to a new study by the Tobacco Education Campaign.

The research shows that hard-hitting advertising campaigns were responsible for 32 per cent of recent attempts to give-up smoking, while GPs were directly responsible for just 21 per cent, the Guardian reported.

An anti-smoking campaign organised by the department of health and involving three advertising agencies - Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Euro RSCG London - recently received an industry award for its effectiveness.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Effectiveness Awards estimated that the campaign, which included cigarettes dripping fat to demonstrate the effect of smoking on arteries, are estimated to have saved over 10,000 lives and convinced one million people to quit.

The advertisements focused on several reasons, such as passive effects on children, to convince smokers that there are many advantages to stopping.

\"We wanted to bring smokers with us rather than turn them against us,\" said Clare Hutchinson of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO.

http://www.hda-online.org.uk