Tips Campaign Matte Article for Hispanic/Latino Communities

This matte article about the Tips From Former Smokers^® campaign is ready for use. It is available for journalists, bloggers, other members of the media, and organizations’ newsletters.

CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers Campaign Airing a New Round of Hard-Hitting Commercials

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Tips From Former Smokers^® (Tips^®) campaign returns with new hard-hitting ads. The campaign features real people impacted by the serious long-term health effects of smoking and secondhand smoke exposure. The Tips campaign also tells the stories of family members who take care of a loved one living with a smoking-related disease.

This year, Tips ads include messaging about the harms of smoking menthol cigarettes. Tobacco companies add menthol to commercial tobacco products to make them seem less harsh and more appealing to people who have never used cigarettes. People who smoke menthol cigarettes can be less likely to successfully quit than people who smoke non-menthol cigarettes.

Tobacco companies aggressively market menthol-flavored tobacco products to different groups of people. This marketing contributes to certain groups being more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes than other groups.

Young people, racial and ethnic minority groups, LGBTQ+ people, women, people with a low income, and people with mental health conditions are more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes than other population groups.

Cigarette smoking has dropped among Hispanic/Latino people in recent years—from 16.2% in 2005 to 8.0% in 2020. However, cigarette smoking adds to a person’s risk for cancer, heart disease, and stroke, which are among the leading causes of death for Hispanics/Latinos in the United States.

Noel S. shares his story in this year’s Tips campaign. Noel started smoking menthol cigarettes at age 13. He liked the menthol flavor when he first started smoking, but now realizes that menthol cigarettes are just as damaging as other cigarettes. “All that time I was killing myself and I didn’t even realize it,” Noel said.

He suffered a smoking-related heart attack at age 36. Noel quit smoking so he could be around to watch younger family members grow up. “I want to walk down the street and have somebody say to me, ‘I quit smoking because of you.’ That’s my goal,” Noel said.

The new campaign ads air beginning February 5, 2024 and run through September 22, 2024.

“The Tips ads show the challenges real people face every day as a result of smoking in a way that statistics cannot,” said Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, PhD, MPH, Director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “We are grateful to all of the people featured in the Tips campaign for sharing their personal stories about how smoking has negatively impacted their lives. By providing information, resources, and motivation, the Tips campaign has helped save lives.”

CDC launched the first federally funded national tobacco education campaign, Tips, in March 2012. From 2012–2018, CDC estimates that approximately one million people successfully quit smoking and millions more tried to quit because of the Tips campaign.

Quitting Help

People who speak Spanish and want to quit smoking can call the Spanish-language quitline: 1-855-DÉJELO-YA (1-855-335-3569). For quitline coaches who speak English, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).

For more information about the Tips campaign and resources for quitting smoking, visit CDC.gov/tips, or our Spanish-language site, Consejos de exfumadores.

###

Recommended Photos for Matte Article

Download photos of Tips participants Noel S., Felicita R. and Rose H. to use with the matte article for Hispanics/Latinos. These photos are available for public use. Permission is not required.

Visit Campaign Resources for more ready-to-use Tips photos, videos, social media content, and web badges and buttons.