The CDC's Anti-Smoking Ads Now Include E-Cigarettes

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is launching the latest strike in a long-running media battle between public health authorities and the tobacco industry to sway Americans’ feelings about cigarettes. Starting March 30, the CDC will roll out a $68 million ad campaign designed to help smokers quit. The campaign expands on the CDC’s three-year-old “Tips From Former Smokers” series, which enlists real people who've been ravaged by smoking. And for the first time, the new ads will also include former e-cigarette users.

The message wars between the CDC and Big Tobacco have intensified since the rise of electronic cigarettes, which face none of the advertising restrictions that have kept cigarette ads off television since 1971. Before Richard Nixon signed a ban on broadcast advertising, tobacco companies spent 60 percent of their marketing dollars on TV and radio, even using cartoon characters such as Fred Flintstone to market cigarettes to kids.