LONDON—A hard-hitting anti-smoking campaign which features pictures of smokers with their mouths pierced by large fish hooks will be launched in the New Year.
The government adverts show smokers being violently snagged through their lips by metal hooks and dragged to their traditional smoking spots.
Ministers want to show how the average smoker is "hooked" on more than 5,000 cigarettes a year. Smoking kills 106,000 people each year. "Smoking is an addiction which makes quitting daunting and difficult," said Public Health Minister Caroline Flint. "But there has never been more free help available on the NHS to get you unhooked."
The nicotine in cigarettes affects a smoker's brain within 10 seconds and can be as addictive as heroin or crack cocaine, doctors say.
"Smoking is not just a habit, for many smokers it's a complex and powerful addiction," said Professor Robert West, Professor of Health Psychology, University College London. "Although most smokers believe that cigarettes help them cope, the evidence shows that it makes things worse."
Smoking will be banned in enclosed public places in England from July 1 next year. The adverts will appear on television, the Internet and on hoardings.
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