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EX

Also: Become an EX · EX smoking cessation campaign

American Legacy Foundation's national smoking cessation campaign, piloted in 2007 and launched nationally in 2008. Its ads told smokers to 're-learn' daily routines like driving or morning coffee without cigarettes and sent them to the free BecomeAnEX.org quit-planning site.

Years
2007–now
Country
United States
Topic
Tobacco
Asks people to
Stop
Strategy
Cessation service linkSelf efficacy
Channel
RadioTVWebsite
Audience
Adults
Adult smokers, especially those who had tried to quit before.

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalPositive

Cohort of 4,067 adult smokers in 8 media markets surveyed about 6 months apart: smokers with confirmed awareness of EX were 24% more likely to make a quit attempt (OR 1.24) and more likely to shift toward quitting-related beliefs (OR 1.6). The 2007 pilot (Grand Rapids and other markets) reached 62% confirmed awareness and changed 2 of 5 targeted beliefs but not quit attempts.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • American Legacy Foundation (now Truth Initiative) Settlement funded, funder and creator

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Vallone DM et al. Evaluation of EX: a national mass media smoking cessation campaign. Am J Public Health 2011;101(2):302-9 evaluation · 2011 · DOI 10.2105/AJPH.2009.190454 · PMID 21164094
  2. Vallone DM et al. The impact of EX: Results from a pilot smoking-cessation media campaign. Am J Prev Med 2010;38(3 Suppl):S312-8 evaluation · 2010 · DOI 10.1016/j.amepre.2009.11.021 · PMID 20176302
  3. Richardson A et al. The path to quit: how awareness of a large-scale mass-media smoking cessation campaign promotes quit attempts. Nicotine Tob Res 2011;13(11):1098-105 evaluation · 2011 · DOI 10.1093/ntr/ntr158 · PMID 21852272
  4. Villanti AC et al. Analysis of media campaign promoting smoking cessation suggests it was cost-effective in prompting quit attempts. Health Aff (Millwood) 2012;31(12):2708-16 evaluation · 2012 · DOI 10.1377/hlthaff.2012.0277 · PMID 23213155

Research notes

Created 2026-10-22 by literature mining (PubMed/OpenAlex); evidence level, outcome and findings are paraphrased from the evaluation abstracts, full texts not read. No credits: no page naming an agency was checked. Treat endYear null as unconfirmed: EX continues as an online program run by Truth Initiative.

Record cases/legacy-ex.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign