Smokefree (Auahi Kore, a government-run division of Te Whatu Ora) is one heck of an incredible driving force behind keeping our tamariki healthy. Sadly, recent – no doubt life-saving – Smokefree legislation is now on the chopping board. So, why is it so important? How has Smokefree dramatically reduced the number of Kiwis who smoke and, in the process saved us billions of dollars in healthcare services? We look at the genius strategies Smokefree employed – they may have even stopped you from smoking without you realizing it…
OPINION
As I’ve mentioned before, I have a few regrets when it comes to my decades working as a magazine editor. But, I actually have zero when it comes to my time at tween/teen magazine, Creme (well, apart from not wearing ear plugs to a One Direction concert – I burst an eardrum and suffered permanent hearing loss from the volume of the audience screaming. RIP my left ear.).
And there’s one project I worked on at Creme that remains to be one of the pieces of work I’m most proud of in my career.
It was the early 2000s and I vividly remember flying down to Wellington to talk to the government agency, Smokefree, who were keen to have a chat. I met with Amie Mills and Heidi Flaxman who were looking at instead of just focusing on getting people to quit smoking, working out how they could get kids to stop taking it up in the first place.
Creme was primarily for girls aged 10-16, so definitely in their sweet spot of who they could target to turn their nose up at smoking. And Amie and Heidi had a brilliant concept of how to achieve their goals: they’d make smoking uncool.
As someone who had grown up with the messaging around smoking being very similar to the way sex was discussed in health class (‘do it even once, and you’ll die!!’), I was excited by their thinking. It’s one thing as a tween or teen to be told about all the reasons you shouldn’t smoke, but then, another to see all the popular movies and TV shows of the time (Pulp Fiction, Sex and the City, Romeo + Juliet) making smoking look so sexy and cool. Remember that shot of Leonardo smoking while the sun came up in Venice?? HOT. Because to a teen mind, it’s hard to say no to something that you perceive as being so wildly cool, even if there is a chance that it might kill you.
So, Amie and Heidi talked to me about their idea of getting celebrities to talk about how they didn’t smoke, or any negative attitudes they had towards smoking. It would be subtle, but likely very effective. I took this challenge on with absolute gusto. Yes, Smokefree would pay for these mentions (it wasn’t money that was going directly into my pocket, but yes, keeping the mag alive!), but for me, it was something I felt so strongly about, I wanted to excel at this mission.
I’d find subtle ways of asking people – like, “what would be your biggest turn-off in a girl?” And then, when someone like Justin Bieber straight away answered, “Smoking. I’d never date a girl who smokes,” I’d do a little internal dance. Sometimes I’d have to work a bit harder and lay it out by saying that Smokefree was trying to make smoking uncool to kids in NZ and did they have any views they’d like to share on smoking. Then, I’d get some great quotes or anecdotes.
In the end, I got some of the biggest male celebrities of the time to talk trash about smoking, from Taylor Lautner (adoration for Twilight was at a fever pitch) to Zac Efron. If you wanted a shot at being their gf, you couldn’t be a smoker. I also got the girls who everyone wanted to be, to say they thought it was gross, like Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus (ironic) and Paramore’s Hayley Williams.
I’d talk to groups of Creme readers out at events and sometimes ask, “what do you guys think of people who smoke?” At the start, they’d shrug their shoulders or avoid my eye – but after long they’d immediately break out into a “Eeeeeew! Yuck! It’s so gross!”
Smokefree pushed this tactic across a number of media outlets – particularly Mai FM, The Edge and ZM, as well as on TV ads during Home & Away and other prime after-school viewing spots. They also talked to all the different magazines and outlets about banning pics of people smoking in their pages (we signed a contract to say we wouldn’t – many others did too). They talked to the film commission and film makers about not glamourizing smoking in films or on TV.
It was incredibly smart – and well received. While overall smoking rates declined steadily over those years (from 18.3% in 2006/2007 to 15% in 2014/2015), the impact of stopping kids from smoking early on is likely showing up in today’s figures of 8% (full-time smokers).
When I saw the news that the new government has moved to disestablish Smokefree laws, I was absolutely dumbfounded.
Smokefree’s latest project is to see the rate of smoking in NZ to fall below 5%. It’s a goal that makes sense for all New Zealanders. A no-brainer. We all know the health implications that come with smoking and, in turn, the healthcare cost it comes at for taxpayers.
And it’s a goal that, until now, they were on track to meet.
In my experience, those who work at Smokefree create clear objectives, with clever – and measurable – initiatives to ensure those goals are met. The work they do impacts all New Zealanders. The policies they have put in place, from reducing the supply and demand for tabacco, to providing the best possible support for quitting, to protecting children from exposure to tobacco marketing and promotion are working. These interventions will save lives, and save money.
The idea that we are turning back the clock on these policies, is insanity. And the idea that the driving force behind this thinking is to fund tax cuts is beyond deplorable. Do you know what rich people don’t need? A tax cut. Do you know what those in poverty don’t need? To take up smoking.
To all those who have worked so hard for our tamariki and for all New Zealanders at Smokefree over the years, I want to say a massive thank you for the work you have done. It’s desperately sad to see this work being undone.
To those looking to undo that hard work, I say shame on you. It’s a shame for all of us.
