Millions of Cigarettes Go Unlit for a Day in ‘Great Smoke Out’

An estimated 20 million Americans were snuffing out their cigarettes for 24 hours today during the ninth annual Great American Smoke Out while the tobacco industry countered with an anti-anti-smoking campaign.

Smoking foes were celebrating the difficult task with things like a cold turkey rally in New York City and a parody of cigarette advertisements on the streets of Seattle.

“We try to make this a light-hearted event,” said Joann Schellenbach, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society, which sponsors the Smoke Out. “This is an occasion to celebrate smokers and tell them, ‘We love you anyway.’ ”

Although smokers are asked to quit for only 24 hours, she said many make the Smoke Out the first day of their attempt to quit for good.

“Our surveys show maybe 1 million people attempted to quit for good during the Smoke Out last year,” she said. “We ask them to quit for 24 hours to show them it’s not as bad as they thought.”

Not everyone is joining the Smoke Out, however. A fledgling organization called PUFFS--People United For Friendly Smoking--out of St. Simons, Ga., started its own campaign today, arguing that smokers’ rights are violated by overregulation, excessive taxation and harassment.

And tobacco giant Philip Morris sponsored a forum dedicated to smokers’ rights. The firm said it was trying to present “an alternative viewpoint” and to point out that “smokers become the object of pranks and harassment” during the Smoke Out.