Stoptober is the Department of Health and Social Care’s annual stop smoking campaign, based on evidence that if a smoker makes it to 28 days smoke-free, they are five times more likely to quit for good. Since it first launched in 2012, Stoptober has helped over 2.5 million people make a quit smoking attempt. With your help, this year we aim to encourage the remaining 5 million smokers in England to give quitting a go this October and support them to quit successfully.
Searching ‘Stoptober’ directs smokers to the Better Health website, where they can access a range of free support, tools, information and advice on quitting smoking. There is also a postcode lookup tool
to help them find their local stop smoking service. Stoptober is a little different this year as there will be no national paid media campaign, so your support is more important than ever.
The Department of Health and Social Care created a range of campaign assets to help you promote Stoptober locally. These can be edited to include local service details, etc. The assets focus on reminding smokers of what Stoptober is all about – that if you quit smoking for Stoptober (i.e. 28 days) you are five times more likely to quit for good. They have also created assets promoting useful quitting tips, the health benefits of quitting and the support available.
The Department of Health and Social Care strongly encourage you to create your own communications such as PR, case studies, blogs and displays, particularly to encourage smokers to access quitting support. Meanwhile, they are working on plans for future campaigns in 24/25 and will share more details shortly. Make sure you and your colleagues are signed up for email updates from the DHSC Campaign Resource Centre.
Log in to the DHSC Campaign Resource Centre to access the campaign toolkit.