The FDA in the US is encouraging smokers to keep up their efforts to quit with their latest campaign called Every Try Counts.
Every Try Counts is the latest campaign by the FDA in the US targeting smokers. Instead of trying to get people to quit smoking, the campaign encourages smokers who have failed in their attempts to quit to keep trying. Thus, encouraging quitting in a subtler way. The 2-year campaign aims at informing smokers of positive statistics regarding multiple quit attempts. The idea is to celebrate each effort to quit as studies show that those who try multiple times have a much higher chance of quitting for good. The messages will be displayed at point-of-sale with the aim of making smokers think twice before buying a pack of cigarettes.
“Instead of trying to get people to quit smoking, the campaign encourages smokers who have failed in their attempts to quit to keep trying.”
Even though the FDA campaign does not directly recommend vaping, it acknowledges the value of harm reduction products, which is already a win for e-cigarettes. Looking at it from this angle, one might say that the campaign indirectly endorses vaping.
The FDA’s objective is to render cigarettes minimally or non-addictive while at the same time encourage the development of potentially less harmful tobacco products for those who need or wants access to nicotine.
The biggest problem that vaping faces is the lack of public awareness of its benefits. Studies show that 13% of adults believe that vaping is safer than smoking and 26% view it as just as, if not more dangerous.
The FDA hopes that the encouraging messages placed in-store will counter the smoking advertisements appearing alongside it and that smokers will make healthier choices. From this campaign we can deduce that instead of scaremongering smokers, the FDA is finding it more effective to rather push smokers to safer alternatives in the hopes that it will lead to more smokers quitting.
