Never Give Up Giving Up anti-smoking campaign

Campaign overview

Never Give Up Giving Up (NGUGU) is a repeat pull style anti-tobacco campaign targeting smokers aged 18–54 years in NSW.

The NGUGU campaign aims to increase hopefulness and self-efficacy in smokers by informing them that it is normal to make several quit attempts before ultimately succeeding.

The campaign launches in NSW on 7 January 2018 on television, online video and radio.  It concludes on 3 March 2018.

Campaign description

The television commercial follows one male smoker caught up in the cycle of quitting and relapsing through several relatable life stages.

At first, he quits for three days, then six weeks, and then one year. “Well, the second time was better. I lasted six weeks. Until my girlfriend decided I was too cranky.”

At the ad’s conclusion we see him as a happy family man, successfully smoke free for three years, with the call to action, “See, every time you quit, you get a little better at it. So remember: never give up giving up. For support, visit iCanQuit.com.au.”

Communication Objectives              

The communication objectives of the campaign were informed by formative research undertaken with the target audience.

• Making multiple quit attempts is normal
• Each quit attempt gets one closer to quitting for good
• It’s time to try quitting again

Media Channels

• Television
• Digital (online Video)
• Radio

Campaign Q&A

Who is behind the Never Give Up Giving Up campaign?

The Cancer Institute NSW Licensed this campaign from Cancer Council Victoria to use in NSW.

NGUGU was developed by Cancer Council Victoria in 2010 as research suggested that smokers do want to quit, but lack the confidence and resolve to do so successfully. Eight out of ten Victorian smokers have tried to quit at least once, while more than half of Victorian smokers have tried to quit multiple times.[i] The campaign was developed to inspire hopefulness and self-efficacy in smokers, by informing them that it is normal to make several quit attempts before ultimately succeeding and by encouraging them to keep trying to quit.

Are the people in the advertisements all actors?

Yes, the people in the ads are all actors, however, expert guidance was provided by medical specialists to ensure that symptoms were represented accurately.

How was the research done? Is it credible?

The Campaign was informed by research undertaken with Victorian smokers in 2010. The advertisement was also evaluated by Commonwealth’s National Tobacco Campaign and Cancer Council Victoria before adding to the suite of campaigns, to ensure it would resonate with the target audience in NSW.

Do media campaigns actually work in getting smokers to quit?

Yes.  Research has shown that mass media campaigns are one of the most effective means to reduce smoking[i], especially when they offer smokers  support services and resources to help them quit. 

Do adult campaigns influence young people as well?

Research demonstrates that there are few age and gender differences in how people respond to different quit smoking adverts[ii]. There is good evidence that youth respond in a similar way to adults to adult targeted antismoking campaigns[iii][iv] and strong evidence that these campaigns reduce youth smoking rates[v]

‘Social’ or infrequent smoking

There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. Any exposure to tobacco smoke—even an occasional cigarette or exposure to second hand smoke—is harmful.  Smoking just one to four cigarettes a day almost triples your risk of dying from heart disease or lung cancer. For more information on the health effects, visit www.iCanQuit.com.au.

Smoking and stress

While you may feel like smoking relieves stress, your body is actually under greater stress.  When you smoke, nicotine makes your heart rate and blood pressure rise^[vi] and nicotine withdrawal can make you feel irritable, aggressive, anxious and depressed^[vii]. Smoking answers your nicotine craving, but it’s a short fix. There are other ways to deal with stress, like exercise, distraction, talking to friend/ family.

I don’t need to quit smoking as I don’t have any symptoms. I’ll quit when I’m older/later/when I experience symptoms.

If you smoke, the chances are that you are damaging your body. Early symptoms include experiencing cough, shortness of breath, and lack of fitness.

Smoking and the family

Quitting smoking benefits you and your family’s (or future family’s) health. It makes you a stronger role model.

Children in non-smoking households are less likely to develop asthma and other respiratory conditions[viii].

Children are more likely to start smoking if their parents or siblings smoke[ix] [x] [xi] [xii] [xiii].

There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. Any exposure to tobacco smoke—even an occasional cigarette or exposure to second hand smoke—is harmful.

Quitting smoking will improve the health of your whole family[xiv].

Smoking related death and disease could mean that other family members will need to support you during sickness.

What are the health benefits of quitting?

The best thing any smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking. There are health benefits of quitting for all smokers, regardless of age, sex or length of time that they have been smoking. In particular, risk of stroke significantly reduces and becomes similar to that of a never-smoker in between five to 15 years.

Quitting smoking has benefits for your appearance, including reducing the risk of wrinkles and appearing to age quickly, as well as yellow teeth and bad breath.

Regardless of your age or length of time that you’ve been smoking, quitting is one of the best things you can do to improve your health and wellbeing in the immediate and long term future. [xv] [xvi] [xvii] [xviii].

When you quit smoking your lung function begins to improve and you may begin to feel like doing more exercise, making it easier to maintain a healthy weight.

The immediate and long term health benefits to quitting[xix] [xx] [xxi] [xxii] include decreased blood pressure, improved smell and taste, improved lung function, decrease in coughing and shortness of breath.

Quitting smoking can reduce your risk of developing such conditions as heart disease, stroke, many cancers including lung cancer, respiratory diseases, degenerative eye disease, and blindness.

If you smoke, the chances are that you are damaging your body. Early symptoms include experiencing cough, shortness of breath, and lack of fitness.

The benefits of quitting happen almost immediately:

Time since quitting	How your health benefits
20 minutes	Your heart rate reduces
12 hours	The level of poisonous carbon monoxide in your blood reduces
2-12 weeks	Your risk of a heart attack begins to reduce and your lung function improves making exercise easier
1-9 months	Coughing and shortness of breath decrease
1 year	Your risk of coronary heart disease is halved
5 years	Your risk of mouth, throat and oesophageal cancer and stroke decreases
10 years	Your risk of lung cancer is halved and your risk of bladder, kidney and pancreatic cancer decreases
15 years	Your risk of coronary heart disease and overall death fall to the risk of someone who has never smoked