A local girl, who lost her mother to cancer just over a year ago, features in a new nationwide television ad campaign aimed at getting people to quit smoking.
Margaret O’Brien (18 ), from Kilkenny city was selected to star in the series of ads after applying to a radio appeal. Just over a year has passed since Margaret’s mother, Jacqueline, passed away from lung cancer and adrenal gland cancer.
With the new ads the HSE is hoping to connect with people considering giving up smoking for the New Year.
“They came down to Kilkenny and recorded me in my house and around town,” Margaret told the Kilkenny Advertiser.
“The aim is to highlight the fact that one in two smokers will die [of smoking-related illnesses].”
The initial full-length ad clip was broadcast on RTÉ and TV3 on New Year’s Day. It will also be shown in a series of shorter spots on domestic television later on throughout the year.
Fenton Howell, HSE director of public health, said that Margaret’s story was one of three different ad campaigns, which would relate personal experiences to viewers.
“Evidence from all over the world has shown the impact that real-life, personal stories, like Pauline, Gerry and Margaret’s, can have on smokers’ drive to quit,” he said.
“We are very grateful to all the people who are bringing this campaign to life by telling their stories.”
Margaret, who is currently studying hard for her Leaving Cert this June, is no stranger to the cause. Last summer, she had her head shaved in order to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society.
She says that she has become increasingly drawn to charity work ever since.
The 18-year-old is in her final year in the Presentation, and hopes to go to Waterford Institute of Technology next year to study social care. The youngest in her family, she lives in Kilkenny with her twin sister Ellen (older by just five minutes ), an older sister Laura, and her dad, John. Her two older brothers live abroad.
