The ad campaign shows in graphic detail what can happen to the arteries of smokers, by depicting cigarettes dripping with fat. In one scene a mock-up of an artery is squeezed showing fat coming out, while a caption explains that this much fat was found in the arteries of a 30-year-old smoker.
The BHF said that in the month since the campaign ran there have been 62,000 visits to a special microsite, created by the agency DNA, and that 10,000 smokers have contacted the smoking helpline. Visits to the BHF website rose by 78% on December 2003 to 230,000, making it the busiest month since the site launched in 1998.
Research also showed that the time spent on the site averaged nine minutes and 19 seconds, double the average time spent on UK websites. According to Hitwise, the BHF site became the second most visited health website in the UK, after , almost tripling its market share.
The charity is conducting a formal evaluation of the campaign's success but anecdotal evidence has suggested that the graphic imagery has disgusted many smokers into quitting. One smoker who contacted the BHF said: "The BHF campaign created such strong and repulsive images that I immediately realised I owed it to myself as a self-respecting human being not to allow my body and health to be destroyed by cigarettes."
Another said: "The images disgusted me and made me feel disgusted with myself for doing that to my body. It has put me off smoking for good."
The campaign finished at the weekend with the final screening of the television ad and the removal of 2,500 posters.
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