Gov. Deval Patrick relaunched a statewide anti-tobacco media campaign last week, but skeptics say it may be just a quick fix for a societal addiction that needs much more attention and funding.
State officials say the initiative will help clear the increasingly smoke-filled air in the commonwealth.
Fight4YourLife, a $4.5 million state-funded initiative through which Massachusetts will push anti-tobacco TV and Internet advertisements, features smokers who have become ailing victims of their own habit.
"We are back in the business of countering big tobacco," said the Public Health Department spokeswoman Donna Rheaume. "After six years of governmental roadblocks, we have finally attained the funding and legislation we need to affront powerful tobacco lobbies."
Because they face more immediate consequences of their smoking habits, 40-and 50- year-olds are the first target of the campaign, Rheaume said, adding advertisements will gradually focus on a younger crowd.
"We want to spread our influence to high school and college smokers," Rheaume said. "The importance of that demographic cannot be ignored."
"Over the last several years, this state has lost momentum in the fight against tobacco," said Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. JudyAnn Bigby. "Today, we begin a new era to help Massachusetts citizens lead healthier lives."
The campaign has garnered praise from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, but some - even those who advocate anti-tobacco education - question the motives of lawmakers who promoted the initiative.
"While the concept of this ad campaign appears honorable, the whole thing seems more like a political stunt," said Boston University associate advertising professor John Verret, former CEO of the Arnold Tobacco Education Program, which provides anti-tobacco training for teachers, smokers and youth. "What is needed is a truthful, direct, public service campaign that is granted more than [just] $4.5 million of the state budget. The message that smoking is lethal is worth more than that."
"The legislature is sitting on ample amounts of cash that they would prefer to dole out to tobacco farmers in need of new barns, as a recent bill allows for," he added.
Verret said the similar "Truth" campaign, which began in 1996 and ran nationally, was successful because its ads were "powerful" and raw.
"Emphysema patients with tracheotomies telling their stories simply stated facts about chemicals in cigarettes. These devices contributed to effective ads - ones that didn't preach but plainly said, 'We think you ought to know,'" Verret said. "This generated incredible results, especially with kids."
Though it needs to focus more of its budget on prevention beyond the campaign, Massachusetts is on the right track, Verret said.
"The tobacco companies have the money to espouse their cover-up propaganda, and the state now must lend the money to counter it," Verret said.
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