A campaign aimed at encouraging smokers to quit their habit has been hailed a success.

The British Heart Foundation advertisement was launched on New Year's Day and featured fat being squeezed out of a smoker's artery.

Since then 100,000 people have contacted the charity's smoking helpline and 62,000 people have logged onto their website.

According to hitwise.co.uk, the website was second favourite among those in the health sector, behind www.breastcancer.org.

"The response to our campaign has been overwhelming, which shows we are fulfilling our aim to help smokers give up," said Betty McBride, director of marketing at the British Heart Foundation.

"Our intention was to declare war on smoking, not on smokers. I feel that we won a battle in January, but the war goes on."

The success of the campaign, which cost the charity £4 million, has been welcomed by public health minister Melanie Johnson.

"These powerful adverts have been a visual wake-up call to everyone about the dangers of smoking and it is encouraging to see they are motivating so many people to quit," she said.