Reed Dunn, Sr. Recruitment Marketing Manager:

I have never smoked, but I was a journalist.

There may not seem to be a solid connection there – if so, it’s a stereotypical one – but there are plenty of links between journalism and tobacco use. One of the first newspapers I worked at allowed reporters and others to smoke right in the middle of the newsroom.

Overflowing ashtrays sat near outdated computers, which were dangerously surrounded by piled of notebooks and past issues. Folks from the ad department often gathered in a back room, where the newspaper layout took place, and discussed placement of their ads while socially smoking right there inside the building.

Some industry professionals, including journalists, are historically depicted as tobacco users. Think about Mad Men, the popular television show about the advertising industry. The chain-smoking characters are practically defined by their tobacco use.

Historically, though, journalism also has been linked to one of the most important days to promote quitting smoking.

In 1974, Lynn Smith of the Monticello Times in Monticello, Minnesota, used his newspaper platform to promote “Don’t Smoke Day.” The day was meant to be the starting point for smokers to become non-smokers.
What came next was the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout®, now in its 35th year. Each year, on the third Thursday of November, the American Cancer Society encourages smokers to make a commitment to quit smoking. As a partner of the American Cancer Society, Free & Clear offers the Quit For Life Program.

The evidence-based Quit For Life Program, which includes phone- and web-based components, provides top-notch support from Quit Coaches who help those who want to make a successful plan to quit. While quitting “cold turkey” or without a plan has a success rate of 5 percent or less, the Quit For Life Program has yielded a success rate 43 percent or greater for those enrolled in the program.

Quitting tobacco is difficult, and you shouldn’t be expected to do it on your own. Even though I never was a tobacco user, I have been surrounded by tobacco users my entire life. Some in my family, many in the newsrooms where I worked around the country and, even today, a handful of friends who picked up their first pack in college and never have been able to successfully quit.

If you’re ready to quit smoking or using smokeless tobacco, the Quit For Life Program can help. So, why not join the countless others who will make a commitment to quit this November 18?