New FDA Ad Campaign Targets Teens

For the first time ever, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a national anti-tobacco advertising campaign geared at teenagers.

The new campaign is a result of legislation that ACS CAN and its volunteers helped pass in 2009.

Called Š—“The Real CostŠ— campaign, the television, print and online ads will focus on what smoking can do to a teenagerŠ—Ès appearance, and how tobacco can take away their ability to control their own lives.

The $115 million multi-year campaign is funded by tobacco industry user fees paid to the FDA under the 2009 law.

The tobacco industry currently spends an average of $20 million per day on marketing to hook new users to replace those that quit or die. Each day in the U.S. more than 3,200 kids under age 18 smoke their first cigarette, and more than 700 of those become daily smokers.

Starting on Feb. 11, the ads will run in outlets that target the teen audience, including MTV, Teen Vogue magazine, Facebook and Twitter.

You can see some of the new ads below.