Bradford City FC Community Foundation and Bradford Council launch Catch Your Breath youth anti-vaping campaign

Bradford City FC Community Foundation, the charitable arm of Bradford City AFC, and Bradford Metropolitan District Council have launched a new youth anti-vaping campaign.

The ‘Catch Your Breath’ campaign will run until the end of the 2025/26 football season, and aims at tackling the issue of vaping in Bradford and the wider district. The campaign will focus on three distinct phases exploring the negative impacts of vaping on young people, starting with the implications of nicotine addiction in social situations.

The campaign was launched with two bespoke films, emphasising the negative impacts of vaping in social situations.

Lizzie Saunderson-Trowell, Chief Operation Officer at the Bradford City FC Community Foundation, said: “Every day, we see first-hand how commonplace vaping has become, and how it impacts daily life. As part of our commitment to supporting and improving public health in the city and the wider district, we thought it was crucial that we did our bit to support the Council and spread this message. We are proud to be delivering the ‘Catch Your Breath’ campaign, and hope it fosters conversations, and changes behaviours, around vaping. It has been fantastic to work with Bradford Council on it from conception to creation, and we are proud to be doing our bit in tackling the issue in our community.”

Highlighting the negative impacts of vaping throughout a day out across Bradford landmarks, and during a Bantams matchday, the films feature local actor Mia Drew, as well as Youth Ambassadors from the Bradford Youth service. In the films, one of which was directed by local director Michael James, the vape is replaced with a garish, loud and intrusive party horn. Their aim is to change behaviours, and discourage people from vaping intrusively in social situations.

Cllr Sue Duffy, Chair of Bradford’s Tobacco Control Alliance, said: “We are delighted to launch our new campaign, and would like to thank the Bradford City FC Community Foundation for their support and input into the ‘Catch Your Breath’ campaign. We are confident that, using the combined power of humour and its ties to the Bantams, it will connect with audiences across the city, and encourage them to take a breath, pause and think before reaching for a vape.

”In the lead up to the campaign our Public Health team consulted with over 700 young people across the district to get their views on vaping, so we’re confident that this campaign, which has been co-produced with our Youth Service, will resonate with its target audience.”

The films will be complemented by a range of bespoke ‘Catch Your Breath’ social and print media assets, featuring Mia Drew and her trusty party horn, which will be circulated across the Foundation and Council’s networks of educational institutions, social action and outreach organisations, and stakeholders. 

The films will also be played on the big screen at Bradford City AFC home matchdays, engaging the City faithful with the message, and aiming to curb the rise of vaping both among young people and at large-scale social and sporting events.

The campaign was built upon research conducted by Bradford Council, its Living Well arm, and the Foundation. Children and young people were asked about their access to and opinions of vaping, what dangers and impacts of the habit they were aware of, and what sort of messages they feel would best prevent their peer groups from starting vaping, or encourage them to stop.

Evidence from these focus groups, and from vaping education providers in schools, suggests that the vaping rate is 9% higher in Bradford compared to national statistics.

The campaign comes on the back of the Foundation and the Council’s recent Smoke and Vape-Free Sidelines tournament, where 150 players, coaches and family members attended a day of competitive football, all whilst speaking to Foundation and Council staff about how they can keep their junior club sidelines smoke and vape-free. Each participating team signed a pledge to keep their sidelines smoke and vape-free, and to display a bespoke banner which was designed by competition-winner Adelina Fistac, from Westbourne Primary School in Manningham.

The second phase of the ‘Catch Your Breath’ campaign will launch in the new year, and will focus on the mental health impacts nicotine addiction can have.