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These stark messages are at the centre of a hard-hitting new campaign launched today by the Department of Health.

Adverts will appear on TV, radio and in press and poster sites to demonstrate the effect smoking can have on your sex life.

A separate campaign targets younger smokers with adverts in pub toilets.

Messages targeted at men include 'Does smoking make you hard? Not if it means you can't get it up' while women are told 'If you smoke, you stink'.

Smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction by around 50 per cent for men in their 30s and 40s - up to 120,000 men from the UK in this age group are impotent as a direct result of cigarettes.

For women, smoking causes bad breath, gum disease and tooth loss, makes skin less elastic and is a possible cause of cellulite.

Speaking at the screening of the new adverts, health minister Caroline Flint said:

" We know 70 per cent of smokers want to stop smoking, however, with younger people, fears about attractiveness and fertility can be a stronger motivation to quit than fears about health.

"We hope the messages in this new campaign will make young people quit smoking for good."

The campaign also includes two special 'microsites' for each strand: Staying Hard and Ugly Smoking.

• Department of Health Opens new window
• Visit the NHS Giving up smoking website Opens new window

Elsewhere on Directgov

• Giving up smoking (health and well-being section)