ASH makes its TV debut with ‘rape’ ad

Anti-smoking lobbyist ASH is going on to TV for the first time with a controversial ad campaign aimed at young women smokers.

Public service broadcasts featuring a woman “attacked” by cigarettes are to appear on Tyne-Tees Television in February, to coincide with a regional poster campaign and the screening of ASH’s first cinema advertisement.

The ad, which breaks next week, shows a young woman looking like a rape victim with headlines saying: “49,000 women were attacked in 1995: not by rapists, not by muggers, not by their partner – but by cigarettes.”

Negotiations are also taking place with Sky, Granada, Yorkshire, and the Scottish TV stations. Carlton, Meridian and Central are likely to be approached.

The campaign in the North-east – where smoking-related deaths are among the highest in Europe – has been partly funded by the South of Tyne Health Commission.

ASH hopes other health authorities will follow suit, so the campaign, made by Newcastle-based creative house Yellow M, can be launched nationally.