Imagine winning an iPod for turning over a pack of cigarettes, or getting a free massage for promising to help a friend quit smoking. For anyone who walked down the Lawn yesterday, these anti-smoking incentives were a reality.
The Peer Health Educators are raffling off five iPods and four massages for smokers willing to hand in a pack of cigarettes or for non-smokers pledging to help a friend.
The raffle is in conjunction with the Great American Smokeout, a nationwide event founded by the American Cancer Society, celebrated annually on the third Thursday of November. The iPods were donated by electronics retailer Crutchfield and the massages by the Virginia School of Massage.
Here at the University, the event is sponsored by the Peer Health Educators, the Office of Health Promotion and FORCE.
The group tabled on the Lawn all week, according to Peer Health Educator Paige Luhn. They handed out information, raffle tickets and "quit kits," filled with candy, rubber bands, cut-up straws and other quitting aids.
"The idea of the Great American Smokeout is to encourage smokers to quit for one day or to reduce the amount they smoke for the day," Luhn said. She said the organization hopes the Smokeout could turn into the start of a permanent effort to quit.
"The premise is to let smokers know that if you can quit for one day, you can quit for life," Interim Director of Health Promotion Alison Beaver said.
In addition to targeting smokers, the Smokeout is intended to reach out to nonsmokers who can help their friends quit.
"We have research that shows that quitting is most successful with a wide network of support including nicotine therapy, counseling and especially the support of friends and family," said Domenick Casuccio, the American Cancer Society's field communications and marketing manager for Virginia.
This is the 28th year of the event.
"The Great American Smokeout began in California in 1976 as an event to raise awareness that tobacco really does cause lung cancer and to help smokers quit," Casuccio said. Since then it has spread across the country.
The incentives of iPods and massages seem to be working, Beaver said. She added the Peer Health Educators have rewarded more than 200 raffle tickets this week.
There has been great support for the program, especially from nonsmokers, Luhn added.
"The turnout has been great, but a lot more people are willing to help their friends than to turn in their own cigarettes," she said.
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