PHOENIX — A last-minute decision by Arizona officials has snuffed out a series of anti-smoking television commercials aimed at teens and children.
The ads were the centerpiece of a $900,000 campaign, paid for by the state, but they were yanked before they ever made it to the airwaves. Now some health officials are criticizing the decision, saying it may compromise the effectiveness of a public-awareness campaign two years in the making.
“You’ve already made this huge investment,” said Susan Gerard, the former director of the state health department that oversaw the campaign. “This is a waste of so many resources, so many man-hours of work ... It’s really a shame.”
The series of three 30-second TV spots was intended to debut Nov. 20 to coincide with the Great American Smokeout, a national kick-the-habit effort.
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But the ads were never broadcast following a decision by the Arizona Department of Health Services, which worked with Gov. Janet Napolitano’s office to produce the campaign. The ads instead will be available online at anti-tobacco Web sites.
State officials say they began to question the cost-effectiveness of running the ads on TV, for which nearly $2 million was budgeted for airtime.
But some health advocates believe the anti-tobacco ads were canned to prevent the perception that the state was spending millions of dollars on advertisements during a budget crisis. The state is facing a $1.2 billion shortfall this fiscal year, an amount that may double next year.
Funding for the ads was to come from tobacco taxes approved by voters and specifically set aside for anti-smoking efforts, and therefore could not be used, for example, toward the general fund.
When it became clear on Nov. 18 that the ads wouldn’t be aired on TV, officials from the American Lung Association of Arizona, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and the American Heart Association sent a letter to Napolitano urging her to launch the campaign.
Jan Lesher, Napolitano’s chief of staff, responded with a letter noting that the bulk of the campaign will continue.
The state health department was unable Friday to determine how much the state paid for the ads, which were produced by Phoenix advertising and public-relations firm Riester.
Health department spokeswoman Laura Oxley said the commercials may not appear only online, but could also be shown in schools.
That’s not enough, said Bob England, director of Maricopa County Department of Public Health. He said more than 500 kids start smoking in Arizona each month and half will eventually die from it
Aggressive, provocative TV ads are the best way to reach teens with the truths about smoking and addiction, England said.
“The goal of the ... TV advertisements is to create a buzz and drive kids to the Web site and to other materials so the whole thing can work together,” he said. “If you try to do a marketing campaign, or other types of prevention activities without a good media piece, the science is really clear: You won’t get that synergy, it won’t work.”
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