Rhode Island Anti-Smoking Campaign Goes Español

Rhode Island Anti-Smoking Campaign Goes Español

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDH) wants smokers to kick their tobacco habit in the butt.

To make sure everyone gets the message, the RIDH launched a quit-smoking campaign that uses Spanish-language ads on Latino radio, TV and newspaper in Rhode Island, created by the anti-smoking American Legacy Foundation.

Smokers make up about 19 percent of the adult population of Rhode Island, says Carol Hall-Walker, RIDH chief program administrator.

How many of them are Latino or not proficient in English is unknown, said Hall-Walker, but the state does know that "the majority of those 19% are low-income."

One of the two Spanish-language radio spots will be on Rhode Island stations WPMZ Poder (1110 AM), starting May 19, 2008.

Another radio spot aired or will air on WKKB Latina (100.3 FM) on April 14 and May 9.

The campaign also targets African American smokers through one-minute radio spots on WBRU (95.5 FM), which will air on Sundays this month on the station's "Black Experience in Sound" program.

Providence En Español, a Rhode Island newspaper for Latinos, will run Spanish-language ads.

In addition, said Hall-Walker, smokers are encouraged to go online to becomeanex.org, where low-English-literacy "Quit Manuals" and Spanish-language materials are available to help people quit smoking.

Spanish- and Portuguese-language support is also directly available for callers in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, at 1-800-Try-2-Stop (1-800-833-5256).

Resource specialists at the phone number ask questions to determine callers' readiness to quit smoking, insurance status for possible referral to smoke-cessation programs, and may be able to send packets of quit-smoking materials.

Callers will not be asked for personal information such as immigration status, telephone numbers or city of residency.

People in Lowell and Worcester, Mass., who call by May 24 might be able to qualify for a free five-day supply of nicotine (quit smoking) patches.

For more information about quitting smoking, visit becomeanex.org

Click on the file attachments below to see the print ads in Providence en Español newspaper, and to hear the radio ads on WPMZ Poder and WKKB Latina.

Click here, at ethnicnewz.org/en/node/458/play, to view the two Spanish-language TV commericals on Telemundo.  In one of the commercials, a man who has a tracheotomy (surgically-created hole in his throat, to help breathing) is getting a check-up at the doctor's office. Notice the sound of his "voice."

***********************************************************************************
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE TV ADS? IF YOU'RE A SMOKER, DO THEY MAKE YOU WANT TO QUIT?

**********************************************************************************

Special thanks to Web expert Charlotte Corbett for technical assistance for this story.

source: EthnicNewz.org

Copyright 2008 New England Ethnic News, EthnicNewz.org. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express permission of the news source. Contact Newz for more information.