Great American Smokeout ®
November 19, 2009

The American Cancer Society holds the Great American Smokeout® every year on the third Thursday in November.   This year the Great American Smokeout® will take place on November 19, 2009.   The purpose of the event is to set aside a day to help smokers quit smoking, quit using tobacco products, for at least one day, with the hope that they will quit completely.

Not only does the event challenge people to stop using tobacco, it helps to raise awareness about the dangers of smoking and the many effective ways available to quit smoking permanently.

Research shows that smokers are most successful in kicking the habit when they have some means of support, such as nicotine replacement products, counseling, prescription medicine to lessen cravings, guide books, and the encouragement of friends and family members.¹

In 1971, Arthur Mullaney, a Massachusetts resident, asked people to give up smoking for a day and to donate the money they would have spent on tobacco to a local high school.   Lynn Smith, editor of the Monticello Times, led the charge to create Minnesota's first D-Day (Don’t Smoke Day).   The idea gained momentum; and, the California chapter of the American Cancer Society encouraged nearly one million smokers to quit for the day on November 18, 1976. With the success in California, the ACS took the event nationwide in 1977.

Prevention Partners can help you to offer support to those trying to quit smoking and education to those who have yet to start (our kids) through our wide range of products with positive messages that speak out against smoking and tobacco use.
Our products carry positive messages that you can use, not only for the Great American Smokeout®, but also for other anti-smoking and tobacco prevention campaigns, like National Kick Butts Day or World No Tobacco Day.

Prevention Partners began offering products with positive messages to support tobacco prevention efforts in 1999. Given the importance of promoting these messages among our youth and children, especially given the proliferation of children experimenting with tobacco and smoking at increasingly earlier ages, Prevention Partners continues to create products that appeal to young people.

To view our products with tobacco prevention messages, click this link: Tobacco Prevention and Anti-Smoking Messages


¹from American Cancer Society