DoD goes mobile to help troops quit tobacco, save cash

  • Published
  • By U.S. Department of Defense
FALLS CHURCH, Va. --  The U.S. Department of Defense is offering servicemembers mobile tools to help them quit tobacco and save their hard-earned money.

Instead of reaching for cigarettes and chewing tobacco, DoD is encouraging servicemembers to reach for their cell phones to access tips, advice and support from the Quit Tobacco -- Make Everyone Proud campaign at http://www.ucanquit2.org.

The average smoker saves more than $1,600 a year by quitting and even more each year as the price of tobacco continue to rise. The demands of the military can make it difficult to stick to a quit plan, so in addition to the campaign Web site, DoD now offers an alternative -- instead of opening their wallets to buy another pack of cigarettes or chewing tobacco, military personnel can opt to open a text message for a virtual pep talk or access the campaign's Web site through their cell phones.

QuitTips, the text message service, helps servicemembers quit tobacco with timely tips, reminders and positive reinforcement during their busy day, when they're more likely to spend their cash on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Users sign up to receive three texts per week at http://www.ucanquit2.org/quittips or by texting "UCAN" to 35350 subscription is free. (Standard text messaging rates may apply.)

"We want to reach young enlisted men and women where they are -- online and on their phones," said Dr. David Arday, U.S. Public Health Service, and chairman of the DoD Alcohol and Tobacco Advisory Committee. "Our text message and mobile services make it easier and more convenient to access the campaign's tobacco cessation support."

According to a 2009 Nielsen Mobile report, landlines are being replaced by mobile phones and cell phone users are texting much more than talking. In the U.S., text message usage increased by 107 percent from 2007 to 2008, and continues to grow. As texting increases, so does the number of public health initiatives using the tool to reach their audiences. Studies following a text message campaign for smokers in New Zealand, Britain and Norway found that those who received tobacco cessation texts daily were twice as likely to quit smoking for up to a year.

Military members on the go can access the mobile site at http://wap.ucanquit2.org/. In addition support, access to tobacco-related news and use a calculator usage to add up the cash savings from quitting tobacco can be located.

All services and materials, including a customizable Quit Plan, a live chat service with trained coaches, news articles, games, links to the campaign's Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube pages, RSS feeds and widgets, are designed specifically for military members and are available free of charge at http://www.ucanquit2.org.