Wednesday 11 March 2020 is National No Smoking Day. Londoners are being invited to use this day as an opportunity to pair up with a loved one and “quit together”.
Stop Smoking London designed the award-winning “Amazing Things Happen” campaign based on insight with London smokers, which discovered many Londoners are tired of hearing about the harm smoking does – they want to hear more about the benefits of quitting. Their research also underlined the strong social element to smoking, with three quarters of smokers interviewed saying that smoking is “normal amongst me and my friends”. Those who reported success in quitting were significantly more likely to have fewer smokers in their social networks.
Dr Somen Banerjee, Vice Chair of the ADPH London Network and London Smoking Cessation and Tobacco Control Lead, said “We want to see more London smokers quitting in 2020 than ever before – and we know that many want to. More than half of those we interviewed talked about quitting that same year, and 83 per cent didn’t see themselves smoking in ten years’ time.”
“Stop Smoking London has always highlighted the important role of support in increasing your likelihood of quitting for good – whether that’s through, face to face specialist support, medications, nicotine replacement therapies, apps or a combination of these. Because of the strong influence of social networks on smoking, this time we’re also emphasising that smokers can help one another too.”
Stop Smoking London’s website has a number of tools and resources for people thinking about smoking.
Londoners can also call the Stop Smoking London helpline 0300 123 1044 for more information or to sign up for a 28-day motivational quit programme.
Lines are open 7 days a week, from 9am to 8pm weekdays and 11am to 4pm at weekends.
