Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support. FOR THE WEEK OF SEP. 16, 2013 Scary ads help thousands quit smoking
 Do scare tactics work? Find newspaper reports on the effectiveness of graphic ad campaigns or “scared straight” programs for young people.
 Try to find newspaper photos showing tobacco ads at sporting events and people smoking in movies or on television. Do these ads and smoking actors effectively encourage smoking?
 Do you know anyone who smokes? Ask them when they started smoking. Most smokers get hooked on tobacco when they are teens.
Graphic ads showing how real ex-smokers had suffered paralysis, stroke, lung removal, heart attacks and limb amputations, helped at least 100,000 Americans quit smoking, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC spent $54 million on the startling television, radio and print ads in the first federally funded anti-smoking media effort. Large stop-smoking campaigns on television typically are funded by anti-tobacco groups, such as the American Legacy Foundation’s Truth ads. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. The CDC estimates that smoking adds $96 billion each year to U.S. health care costs. Most of the funds for the ad campaign came from the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
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Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2026
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Health official says: The ads “show the reality of smoking. They pull back the examination room curtain and show the real story of real Americans going through suffering and disfigurement." -- CDC Director Thomas Frieden.