ODH Launches New Campaigns

Effort Focused on Tobacco QuitLine and Smoke-Free Workplace

(May 23, 2016) The Ohio Department of Health Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Program launched three new campaigns this month to promote the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line and Ohio’s smoke-free workplace violation hotline. They will run through June.

The Parents campaign, which is timed for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, calls for moms and dads to quit tobacco so that they can live to see their children grow up. The campaign also emphasizes the dangers of secondhand smoke to children. Messages for this campaign are broadcast on traditional and social media. 

The Southeast Ohio campaign, consisting of billboards, social media video (Facebook and YouTube) advertisements, and gas station signage, promotes the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line. “One of the Ohio Department of Health’s goals is to work toward health equity,” said ODH Tobacco Program Chief Mandy Burkett. “We see a higher rate of smoking among individuals of low income or low education, especially in southeast Ohio.”

The Enforcement campaign features radio ads along with gas station, restaurant, and bar signage that encourage Ohioans to report businesses that allow smoking indoors. The campaign stresses the dangers of secondhand smoke and the fact that an investigation cannot start until a complaint is filed. Enforcement is running in the 23 Ohio counties that had the fewest complaints filed in the past two years.