No smoking

Maybe you’ve seen the ads. The broadcast spot features a close-up shot of a woman with smoke oozing out of her mouth like poison and a child behind bars. The newspaper ad shows the same woman, her hand on her protruding abdomen and a cigarette in her hand. “There is a name for a person who forces a life-threatening drug onto children,” the slogan reads. “Mommy.” The ads were developed by local ad agency KPS3 as part of a new campaign by Saint Mary’s and the Washoe County District Health Department. The project, along with several others aimed mostly at youths, was funded by using part of a $301,000 grant that came from Nevada’s tobacco settlement fund. Mike Johnson, manager of outreach programs for Saint Mary’s, works on ways to get the anti-smoking message out to both teens and adults. I recently talked to Johnson about the new advertising campaign intended to get pregnant women to think about quitting.

What moved you to action on anti-smoking issues?

Nevada has such high rates of tobacco use. We are the second in the nation. We developed a partnership with the Washoe County Health Department to address tobacco use. Being a medical provider, we see the end results. WCHD sees the seriousness of the issue. We were natural partners.

What sparked this ad campaign?

More than 426,000 women smoke during their pregnancies each year in America. There’s a lot of research that talks about the outcomes. Previously, information campaigns focused on problems at birth: lower birth weight, premature delivery and miscarriage. Now there’s undeniable evidence that nicotine use during pregnancy affects the child throughout his life. Kids who had a parent who smoked throughout gestation are more likely to smoke themselves. They’re more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorders and other problems we’ve seen increasing. Also, anti-social behavior [in children] has been related to mothers who smoke.

What made you choose an ad campaign that some consider pretty edgy?

There’s so much advertising out there. If you don’t stand out, you’re lost. We went to [Reno ad agency] KPS3, then we ran their concepts past 25 women who’d smoked during their pregnancies. The women gave us feedback, saying, “You need to be as in-your-face as possible or we will not hear it.” That made us nervous, but [we decided to go ahead], given the seriousness of the issue and the women’s feedback. … The majority of people working on the campaign were non-smokers, so that’s why we went to the focus group.

How will you measure success?

Women are offered the opportunity to call the TeleHealth line, where they’ll be referred to active cessation programs in the area. These can be to individual, group or telephone-based programs. We will monitor how many people make the phone call. And one week later, we’ll call them back to say, “How are you doing? How can we help you further?”

Have you ever been a smoker?

No. Well, I smoked two days in college. Then I wondered, "Why am I doing this?" And I never did it again.