The American Cancer Society marks this November 19th 2009 as the Great America Smokeout. It’s a day designed to inform and educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use and smoking, and encourage smokers to use this day to quit permanently.
It’s traditionally held on the third Thursday of November, and smokers are supposed to try and quit for 24 hours. The American Cancer Society hopes that this will encourage smokers to quit for a lifetime.
It started in California in 1974, when the editor of the Monticello Times in Minnesota encouraged people to give up smoking for a day. Then, 3 years later, Arthur P. Mullaney of Randolph, Massachusetts suggested that people give up smoking for a day and donate the money to a local scholarship fund. The idea caught on, and in 1976 the Californian Division of The American Cancer Society managed to get 1 million people to quit smoking for a day. This was a huge success, and the society took it nation wide in 1977.
‘Smoke Smoke That Cigarette’ by Tex Williams is an unofficial anthem of the day, and has some entertaining lyrics pertaining to the annoyances of smoking.
This year, UMass is getting in on the action. As I mentioned briefly in a previous post, cigarette butts collected on UMass’ Butt Clean-Up day will be displayed in all three of the dining commons in a effort to encourage student smokers to quit for at least one day, if not a lifetime.
There are plenty of different ways for towns or university’s to get involved, this website offers a few ideas on how to join in, such as getting a sandwich shop to give out free ‘cold turkey’ sandwiches to anyone who hands in at least half a packet of cigarettes.
Do you think that this works? It’s a great idea- trying to create a smoke-free America for 24 hours. But how well is it advertised? I only came across it when I was searching for any news on smoking through google. I haven’t seen it advertised around UMass, or on TV. How many smokers take part if they do actually know about it? And would smoking for 24 hours be enough to make someone quit? I know that in my time as a smoker I’ve given up for several days before turning back to smoking. I tried to find statistics on whether the Smokeouts success, but had no luck.
What do you think?
