Real People, Real Stories: A New Mass Media Campaign That Could Help Smokers Quit

Imagine seeing these advertisements on your television orcomputer: A 31-year-old man with bilateral below-knee amputations describes losing his legs and fingertips to Buerger disease. Three people with head and neck cancer diagnosed before 50 years of age talk about daily life with a stoma (“Don’t face the shower head. ” and “Be very careful with shaving.”) (Figure). The mother of a young boy with severe asthma advises in English or Spanish, “Don’t be too shy to tell people not to smoke around your kids. ” Three former smokers talk about how they quit and urge viewers, “Do whatever it takes, no matter how many times it takes. We did it. You can, too.” These are some of the real-life Americans featured in