• Posted August 27, 2025

CDC’s Anti-Smoking Ads Set to End After 13 Years

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will stop airing its “Tips From Former Smokers” ads at the end of September, ending a 13-year campaign that helped millions of Americans quit smoking.

Launched in 2012, the campaign featured real people sharing the devastating health effects of smoking — and pointed viewers to free resources like the 800-QUIT-NOW helpline. 

Independent research from RTI International showed that calls to the quitline surged whenever the ads ran and dropped sharply when they paused, CBS News said.

One success story is Leslie Allison-Seei, who quit smoking after more than 40 years. In 2014, she began coughing up blood and was rushed to the hospital, where her doctor urged her to stop immediately. 

“You’re done smoking as of today,” she recalled him saying. With nicotine patches, quitline support and a coach named Lori, Leslie quit the next day — and hasn’t smoked in over 11 years, according to CBS News.

Research shows the campaign led to millions of attempts to stop smoking and more than 1 million long-term quits between 2012 and 2023. 

It also saved billions of dollars in health care costs by preventing smoking-related illnesses.

But funding for the program has been cut as part of a broader restructuring of the CDC’s chronic disease programs. Without new support, the ads — widely considered one of the agency’s most effective public health tools — will stop running when the current contract expires.

"This isn't a budget cut or a way to make the government more efficient," one CDC staffer who worked on the campaign told CBS News. "Ending the Tips campaign is a decision that will cost people their lives and American taxpayers millions of dollars in health care costs."

Public health experts warn that many state quitlines, which rely on CDC funding, may reduce services or close altogether. Without the ads and the easy access to free coaching and nicotine replacement therapy, experts fear fewer people will get the help they need to give up tobacco.

If you smoke and want help to quit, call 800-QUIT-NOW or visit your state quitline. The call is free and takes less than five minutes.

More information

Learn more about the "Tips From Former Smokers" campaign.

SOURCE: CBS News, Aug. 26, 2025