ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the work of Fresh, Smoke Free North East (“Fresh”), the UK’s first regionally based tobacco-control programme. Two concepts – denormalization and ‘wicked issues’ – have been lynchpins of Fresh’s activities. Denormalization, as the word implies, aims to make tobacco less normal in society; it is something that has been at the heart of Fresh’s activities from the beginning. Denormalization underpinned Fresh’s whole approach, with its expressed goal “to change the social norms around smoking to make it less desirable, less acceptable and less accessible”. Smoking during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of miscarriage, premature delivery and stillbirth, and lower birth weight – a baby born to a mother who smokes is, at time of delivery, on average 200g lighter than one born to a mother who does not smoke.
