Evolve Communications Launches $3.2 Million Secondhand Smoke Campaign

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'Our core messages that children are smoke free zones’ and ‘where you smoke matters’ are designed to cut through the myths surrounding secondhand smoke,' says Anne Smith, principal at Evolve Communications.

Denver, Colo. (PRWEB) September 26, 2013

Evolve Communications, working with a coalition of Colorado county public health departments, has recently launched a secondhand smoke campaign that stresses children are “smoke-free zones.”

“Our core messages that children are smoke free zones’ and ‘where you smoke matters’ are designed to cut through the myths surrounding secondhand smoke,” says Anne Smith, principal at Evolve Communications. “Our research showed that many people still feel it is okay to blow smoke out the car window, or out the door at home. Others believe its okay to smoke in another room. We aim to dispel these dangerous myths.”

In the campaign’s signature television ad, children discuss their smoking before it is revealed that they are actually not smoking, but instead being exposed to their parents’ smoke. To view the ad, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40hAF3YQ9uo.

Exposure to secondhand smoke causes more severe and frequent asthma attacks, acute respiratory infections, ear infections and sudden infant death syndrome, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In children aged 18 months or younger, the CDC reports secondhand smoke exposure is responsible for an estimated 150,000–300,000 new cases of bronchitis and pneumonia annually and approximately 7,500–15,000 hospitalizations annually in the U.S.

The principal client for the ”I’m A Smoke-Free Zone” campaign is Denver Public Health. Supporting county health agencies include Jefferson, Tri-County (Douglas, Arapahoe and Adams), Larimer, Logan, Sedgwick, Morgan, Yuma, Kit Carson and Lincoln.

The campaign is utilizing English and Spanish television, radio, Internet, special events (including county fairs, Denver Broncos and Colorado Rapids games, National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, and Elitch Gardens), outdoor (billboards and other signage), convenience store and restroom-based marketing to alert everyone about the need to protect children from the harmful toxins and chemicals in secondhand smoke.

This campaign is one of several smoking-related public health campaigns now active in Colorado. Amendment 35, approved by Colorado voters in 2004, instituted a tax increase on cigarettes and other tobacco products. The revenue was designated for health care services and tobacco education to improve the health of all Coloradans.

For more information on how to protect children from second hand smoke, go to iamasmokefreezone.org. For more information on Evolve Communications, go to evolvecomm.net. To view advertisements created for the campaign, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40hAF3YQ9uo.

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