Reductions in smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption associated with mass-media campaigns

Abstract

This paper examines reductions in smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption associated with state and local mass-media campaigns. We review the findings of the empirical literature on campaigns targeted at the general population. We then discuss the findings on state- and community-level youth-oriented campaigns. The results suggest that well-funded and implemented mass-media campaigns targeted at the general population and implemented at the state level, in conjunction with a comprehensive tobacco control program, are associated with reduced smoking rates among both adults and youth. Studies of youth-oriented interventions specifically have shown more mixed results, particularly for smaller, community-level media programs, but they indicate strong potential to influence underage smoking rates. We conclude by examining issues that warrant additional research. The scale and duration of expenditures, the content of ad messages, and other tobacco control polices are aspects of media programs that may help explain differences among study results. In particular, tobacco control polices that are implemented during the campaign often make it difficult to identify the specific influence of media campaigns alone.

Lessons Learned from Public Health Mass Media Campaigns: Marketing Health in a Crowded Media World

“…Don't Smoke" campaign was associated with being more open to the idea of smoking (12). Youth who recalled the television campaigns against smoking were relatively less likely to become regular smokers compared to those who did not recall seeing the television campaigns (19,51).…”

“…Though this is rarely an option for campaigns sponsored by public health agencies, examples of campaigns using paid advertising to increase exposure to campaign messages do exist. The antitobacco counter-marketing campaigns of recent years offer sound examples of how large-scale paid media campaigns can successfully use message strategies that court controversy to influence youth attitudes and behavior (12,13,19,51,53,54,55,59). For example, Farrelly et al (12) evaluated the impact of two nationwide counter-marketing campaigns, American Legacy Foundations' "truth" and Phillip Morris' "Think.…”

“…They utilized youth input in developing appropriate messages and used multiple strategies to get their message out, including a concert series for teens, a city tour with press conference, and distribution of "truth" merchandise and materials around the state from the "truth" truck, all of which were designed to supplement the large mass media campaign. Similarly, several reviews of youth tobacco prevention mass media campaigns suggest that media campaigns, when combined with other strategies such as community-based programs, can be successful in stemming increases in smoking prevalence among youth (13,19).…”

“…Media attention can strengthen the supportive environment for forming community coalitions and also in lending legitimacy for policy and environmental changes (9,10,15,39,50,57,61). Structural changes can also compensate for media campaign effects because these tend to attenuate over time (19,23,24). Structural or environmental changes combined with media campaigns could potentially enable sustainability.…”

The role of public policies in reducing smoking prevalence in California: Results from the California Tobacco Policy Simulation Model

“…While studies have shown states with media campaigns as part of broader tobacco control programs have shown gains, the specific effect of media campaigns is less clear (Hopkins et al 2001;Friend and Levy 2002;Secker-Walker et al 2002). The Hopkins et al (2001) review found an absolute reduction in smoking prevalence of 3.4% (approximately 13% in relative terms), but with a broad range of effects.…”