MidDay's blue ribbon for World Tobacco Day

On May 31, 2011 – World No Tobacco Day, a blue ribbon was given along with every issue of Mid Day newspaper to participate and encourage others to quit smoking. Over 1,25,000 pledges were received from Mumbaikars and various organisations and celebrities pledged to participate in Smoke Free Mumbai campaign.

As a part of the campaign, 3 day activities were organized by the group to spread the message of Smoke Free Mumbai along with the other modes of communication like Radio, Outdoor, OOH, TV, and ground partner promotions.

On May 29, Street Plays were organised at Phoenix Mills for people to know their rights and responsibilities as the citizen of Mumbai. The plays addressed youngsters and the message was to encourage youngsters to quit smoking and get into the habit of leading a healthy life. Free ENT check-ups were also done for high risk groups, i.e. tobacco habitutees, people were screened for precancerous conditions and offered on the spot counseling on Quitting Tobacco and Oral Hygiene. Also Nicotine Anonymous – a support community of people who have quit smoking - was inaugurated by SK Bhalla, Chairman, General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous (India). This community encourages others to quit smoking by sharing their experiences.

On May 30th, a Children drawing competition was organised at MIG club in Bandra. 200 children including cancer patients had participated in this programme and 3 best drawings were judged and awarded. To motive children, film personalities like Amrita Rao, Jacqueline Fernandes and Shibani Kashyap also visited and spent time with the children. The idea of this event was to inculcate the habit of leading a healthy life in the earlier stages of mankind.

On May 31st, a Police Camp was organised where free ENT screening for 2000 policemen, policewomen and for their family members was organised. This event took place at Naigain Police Headquarters, Dadar (E). On the same day an office activation was also done at Lintas Media Group. Vivek Oberoi, being the face of the campaign and also WHO’s (World Health Organisation) spokesperson for anit-tobacco, visited Lintas Media Group and spoke to the employees of Lintas about his association with anti-tobacco campaigns. He addressed and encouraged all the employees to spread the message of no smoking and quit the habit for good. Vivek tied ribbons on the arms of the employees of Lintas encouraging them to quit smoking. An interactive session on no smoking was organised between the employees of Lintas Media Group and Vivek Oberoi. The organisation also ensured that none of their employees smoked for 24 hours on May 31st.

Mid Day took up the issue to knock out the habit of smoking from the lives of Mumbaikars by running a 3 week long campaign urging Mumbaikars to kick the butt. Mid Day Smoke Free Mumbai was to encourage people of the city to make Mumbai smoke free for 24 hours on World No Tobacco Day. The campaign was also run in the other cities where Mid Day functions i.e. Pune, Bangalore and Delhi.

Speaking on the campaign, Manajit Ghoshal, MD and CEO of MiD DAY Infomedia Ltd. said, “We at MiD DAY decided that we should not only spread awareness about the hazards of smoking but go one step forward and get citizens to give up smoking for a day. We launched a 15 day campaign urging our readers to keep their city Smoke Free on world no tobacco day. I am truly heartened to see the kind of response this social initiative generated.”

Mohit Sainani, Head Marketing, MiD DAY Infomedia Ltd. added, “MiD DAY Smoke Free City initiative was just a small step towards getting people to lead a healthy lifestyle. Not smoking for a day is a start and we urge people to Pledge everyday to keep their lives smoke free.”

The campaign got over on May 31st, but the thought of smoke free Mumbai continues and Mid Day will continue to encourage Mumbaikars to stand up for such a cause and liberate Mumbai from the shackles of smoke forever.