(USA TODAY) -- A government campaign designed to scare, shock and disgust smokers out of their deadly habit is back with several new ads.
The latest "Tips From Former Smokers" ads from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released Tuesday, feature two middle-aged people who lost their teeth, a man with a hole in his throat and a woman who had a premature baby, all as a result of smoking.
The campaign also once again features Terrie Hall, a North Carolina woman who lost her larynx to oral and throat cancer. Her previous videos for the CDC have been seen more than 2 million times, the most of any in the campaign, says Tim McAfee, director of CDC's office on smoking and health.
At a press conference to unveil the new ads, McAfee said Hall "demanded that we come and film her for this ad just days before she passed away" at age 53. Hall,shown in her hospital bed , says: "I don't want anyone to go through what I'm going through,"
The ads are tough to watch, but effective, officials say. "Smokers have told us these ads help them quit by showing what it's like to live every day with disability and disfigurement from smoking," CDC director Tom Frieden said in a statement.
CDC also says the $50-million-a-year campaign, launched in 2012, is still needed. Despite declines in smoking, 18% of adults still smoke cigarettes and 21% use some form of tobacco product every day or most days, according to a report also released Tuesday.
On July 7, the new ads will begin running for nine weeks on television, radio and billboards, online, and in theaters, magazines, and newspapers. All of the ads and background stories on the participants are at CDC's website.
