The Real Cost: Alaska's innovative media campaign to raise awareness about the direct and indirect costs of smoking to society.

Smoking incurs heavy financial costs for direct medical expenditures and lost productivity related to premature death. The Alaska Tobacco Prevention and Control Program designed a media campaign called 'The Real Cost' to raise awareness of the economic cost of smoking to all Alaskans, regardless of their smoking status. The campaign presented this information through television and radio ads between December 2012 and March 2013.