JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The new anti-smoking commercials are hard to watch, but they are doing exactly what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wanted.
A week after the health group released its graphic campaign ads, twice as many people have called a toll-free number that helps smokers quit.
It's making 24-year-old Darius Williams, of Jacksonville, rethink the habit he used to think was "cool." Williams started smoking Black and Mild cigars in high school.
"It's more of a relaxation technique for me, but it's a bad habit relaxation technique, I think," he said.
The CDC ads have captured his attention.
"When you look on TV and you see a lady that has no hair on her head and she has a hole in her throat and she's saying this was all caused by smoking, it makes you think twice about some of the things you're doing," Williams said.
Pulmonologist Dr. Wendell Williams said the ads have even caught his eye.
"I have literally stopped what I'm doing and looked not only because I'm interested in trying to prevent smoking, but also because they're telling the truth. They're telling exactly what happens to people," he said. "The pain and suffering, the misery that comes in life not only to the person with the disease but to their entire family."
Wendell Williams said about 3,000 teens try cigarettes every day in this region of the country alone.
"Tobacco is probably the leading cause of preventable death in the United States," he said.
He said parents need to warn their children of the dangers before they pick up the habit.
"When you get used to doing something on a daily basis, it can definitely be a hard thing to stop doing, but it's all about willpower," Darius Williams said.
He wants to break his bad habit before it's too late. The ads were his wake-up call.
"They need to know about these things immediately, and this information should definitely be exposed to everybody," Darius Williams said.