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Fenton Urges Smoke-Free R.I. Workplaces

June 18, 2003
By Kristen Rountree

BOSTON—The Fenton Group pushes citizen involvement in its first ads for the American Cancer Society's "Campaign for a Healthy Rhode Island."

Print, outdoor and radio ads encourage Rhode Islanders to contact their state legislators and ask them to support a bill that would ban smoking in all workplaces, including restaurants and bars.

One print ad shows a closeup of a waitress behind a coffee counter. "Smoke-free workplaces. It's the opportunity of a lifetime," reads the headline. Further text encourages readers to contact their state legislators and ask them to support a smoke-free workplace. The tag: "You should not have to choose between your health and your job."

The print is running as a full-page ad in daily and weekly newspapers across the state. The same waitress appears in three other print executions, as well as on billboards that read, "Everyone deserves a smoke-free workplace." Those messages are running along Route 95 throughout the state.

"The waitress is the most sympathetic expression of the plight of workers who are subject to smoking, but are forced to choose between their health and their job," said Josh Fenton, principal of the Providence,R.I., agency.

Radio ads describing the perils of working where people smoke are also in the mix. Campaign spending was not disclosed but is likely in the six figures.