India has 12 crore tobacco users, according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2009-2010, which means every ninth Indian consumes tobacco.
According to a report in 2011, about 35 per cent of Indians over the age of 15 use tobacco. Over 10 lakh Indians die every year from tobacco-related diseases, according to the WHO 2012 Global Report on Mortality. Direct medical costs of treating tobacco related diseases in India amount to 907 million dollars for smoked tobacco annually and 285 million dollars for smokeless tobacco, according to Ms Shoba John, who serves on the board of 2005 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world’s first public health pact. With indirect morbidity costs which include the cost of caregivers and value of work loss due to illness, the total economic cost of tobacco use amounts to 1.7 billion dollars.
Last year, the Cancer Society of Finland came out with an extremely viral ad campaign that showcases the effects of smoking, and not smoking through an interactive ad (as seen below). Click on the man or the woman before, and then be prepared for the effective truth delivered in the most impactful way.
Ad campaign by the Cancer Society of Finland; designed by Finland-based ad agency 358.