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Background

FDA’s first tobacco prevention campaign, “The Real Cost,” was launched in 2014. In its first two years, research showed “The Real Cost” prevented up to 587,000 youth ages 11 to 19 from initiating smoking between February 2014 and November 2016, half of whom might have gone on to become established adult smokers. 

Our Goal: Educate youth ages 12-17 who are at-risk for smoking cigarettes in the United States about its harmful effects.

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Campaign Research

How Research Guides Our Campaign  

FDA has conducted several rounds of research with teens, including focus groups, interviews, and surveys across the country. Our research, which is diverse in geography, race and ethnicity, gender, age, informs our campaign messages and ads. 

Today, with teen smoking at an all-time low, our research helps us assess and refresh our messaging to ensure we are being effective with an audience that hasn’t been swayed by other prevention messages. 

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By preventing these kids from becoming established smokers, "The Real Cost" campaign will save more than $53 billion for youth, their families and society at large by reducing smoking-related costs like early loss of life, costly medical care, lost wages, lower productivity, and increased disability.

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Our Approach

“The Real Cost” cigarette prevention campaign uses digital marketing tactics and creative advertising to educate the audience on the negative consequences of smoking. Some of these marketing tactics included: 

• Digital and streaming video advertising  
• Streaming audio advertising
• Social media to engage the audience 
• A variety of influencers to extend the campaign’s messaging 

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Campaign Resources

Quitting Resources for Youth

FDA partners with the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Smokefree.gov initiative to provide youth with resources for quitting e-cigarettes. Resources and information on Teen.smokefree.gov are designed specifically for youth audiences by cessation experts. “The Real Cost” campaign connects youth to these resources on social media and various digital platforms (Spotify Pandora, Wattpad, etc.). Some of the quit tools and resources include: 

• Online chat with counselors trained to help youth quit
• SmokefreeTXT for Teens and quitSTART App to help quit smoking
• Quit Builder tool to help teens make a personalized quit plan
• Quizzes and Surveys to help teens understand vaping addiction
• Information about nicotine withdrawal and addiction

Free Tobacco Education Materials at FDA Tobacco Education Resource Library  

Learn more about print materials, web content, and social media posts available for free that help keep communities, including LGBTQ+ smokers and Spanish language speakers informed about tobacco-related issues.

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Campaign Ads

Video