The uk's public health authorities think New Year's pledges are a good means to curb down smoking. They have ushered in the New Year with an anti-smoking ad which shows smokers being violently seized by a fish-hook and dragged to their traditional smoking spots.
The five-week campaign, which will be shown on tv, internet and billboards, comes seven months before a public smoking ban starts in England. The uk's public Health Minister Caroline Flint said "We know that many smokers will be considering stopping smoking in January as part of their New Year resolutions and in advance of the smoke-free legislation being implemented on July 1, 2007." She added, the adverts, "also include details of how to contact the uk's National Health Service's smoking cessation services".
Meanwhile, a poll by the ngo ChildLine shows the most popular pledge children picked for their parents in 2007 was for them to stop smoking.
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