Stoptober
Stoptober(2012) was a campaign fully funded by the NHS in an effort to get smokers to quit smoking for the whole of October.
Octabber was set up as a result, by people sick of the government spending money on telling people how to live their lives.
Announcement
Stoptober was breathlessly announced by the BBC on 8 Sep 2012:
Smokers across England are being urged to quit for a month in a government campaign.
Research has shown that people who manage to stop smoking for that length of time are more likely not to start again.
"Stoptober" takes place for 28 days from 1 October.[1]
Quite why someone thought that October has only 28 days is unclear.
England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said it was the first time that the government had launched a "mass quit attempt".
The campaign will involve TV and radio advertising, a daily messaging service and roadshows around the country. There is also a Stoptober app and a Facebook page.
Health Minister Norman Lamb, who said he quit smoking last week, told BBC Breakfast the campaign was "a good investment in health promotion".[1]
Unfortunately there was insufficient space in the BBC's report to mention how much tax-payers money was actually, in Mr Lamb's words "a good investment."