World Lung Foundation's Mass Media Resource: A Toolkit for Impactful, Low-Cost Tobacco Control Campaigns

Background: Mass media campaigns are an effective tobacco control strategy. They increase knowledge of the health risks of tobacco use, encourage quitting, motivate behavior change in both smokers and non-smokers, and help to garner support for tobacco control policies. However, public health practitioners face barriers to developing effective tobacco control mass media campaigns, stemming from a lack of both resources and communications expertise. Adapting tobacco control advertisements that have already been developed and proven effective in other countries saves considerable time and resources, though licensing fees and procedures can create additional barriers. 

Program background: This session will present the Mass Media Resource (MMR), an online “best practice” resource for tobacco control mass media, developed in 2008. Ads for the MMR were chosen by the Bloomberg Initiative Mass Media Taskforce, which was made up of both social marketing experts and professionals working in tobacco control, which recommended TV advertisements for inclusion in the resource. MMR campaigns were selected based on several factors, including campaign effectiveness, measurable impact, ease of adaptability, and/or potential ad concepts. From this collection, governments, health communications practitioners, and others can select advertisements for use in their own regions. This resource is available at www.worldlungfoundation.org/mmr.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Since 2008, World Lung Foundation has supported the development of nearly 40 campaigns in 15 low- and middle-income countries, using ads adapted from the MMR. The content of the online resource has since been translated into six other languages, updated with new ads (it currently offers 43 personal harms, secondhand smoke, and testimonial ads), and revamped to include sections with best-practice and smoke-free campaign guidelines and case studies. WLF has also developed a Latin American MMR, consisting of ads that have been pre-tested with Mexican audiences. In 2009 the MMR was named by The New York Times as one of two prominent resources for tobacco control advertising.

Conclusions: Through international experience and evidence-based campaigns, the Mass Media Resource offers valuable tools for tobacco control advocates who are involved in developing effective public education and behavior change campaigns. 

Implications for research and/or practice: Public health professionals who attend the presentation will be able to define barriers to implementing effective tobacco control mass media campaigns; discuss the advantages and disadvantages to adapting anti-tobacco campaigns; and recommend and use the Mass Media Resource as a tool for tobacco control communications.