December 28, 2000

Contact: Bonnie Widerburg, (971) 673-1282

New TV, billboard ads scheduled for anti-tobacco program

A new round of hard-hitting anti-tobacco advertisements will hit Oregon's airwaves and billboards as early as Monday, according to public health officials at the state Department of Human Services.

Several Television spots, never before seen in Oregon, will begin playing on January 1, says Ann Blaker, tobacco prevention program manager at the Health Services. "These latest ads build on previous campaigns, with two of them continuing the theme of depicting real people harmed by tobacco use. "Zach" and "Brian" include conversations with young boys talking about the loss of their father to cigarette-caused cancer," Blaker says.

Two other adds contain messages about secondhand smoke. Both of these show non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke with the tag line, "Smokers aren't the only ones who smoke." Also showing on television will be two ads specifically developed to encourage calls to the award-winning Oregon Tobacco Quit Line, according to Blaker.

New billboards will feature the return of the widely recognized cowboy character and the messages "Bob, I've got emphysema" and "Bob, I miss my lung" ads seen in recent years. In the newest billboard the cowboy confides to his horse that he is afraid of cancer treatment, with the tag line reading, "Chemotherapy scares me, Scout."

A second-hand smoke billboard, with text only, suggests, "Try secondhand smoke! Get all the effects of smoking, without those pesky filters."

"We have made a lot of headway in reducing tobacco use in Oregon," says Blaker. "There are 75,000 fewer adult smokers and 22,000 fewer youth smokers since our program began. These ads are one of many efforts underway that are helping reduce tobacco use across the state. They are an extremely important part of our overall program and from what we hear, the public believes the ads are effective."