The Impact of Cdc's First National Tobacco Media Campaign

Background: Despite the known dangers of tobacco use, one in five adults in the United States smokes.  The toll of tobacco use continues to harm the nation’s families, communities, and economy, with more than 440,000 people in the United States dying each year due to tobacco-related diseases.  There is a large body of evidence that documents the use of mass media campaigns to reduce tobacco prevalence, to increase prevention efforts, and to increase cessation, along with providing the impetus for increased protection from exposure to secondhand smoke.

Program background: CDC is launching a paid media campaign utilizing existing advertising resources from the Media Campaign Resource Center (MCRC) that will support existing efforts to reduce secondhand smoke exposure, encourage smoking cessation and reduce youth tobacco use. A 12-week integrated marketing campaign that includes advertising and public relations efforts will take place in HHS Regions 4 and 6.  HHS Region 6 (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas will feature paid TV advertisements given the region’s elevated tobacco-related health burden.  The dose of campaign messages as measured by Target Ratings Points (TRPs) will vary across media markets in that region. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness among the target audience (adults aged 25-54) and shift key attitudes and beliefs about the harms of tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Evaluation Methods and Results: For this presentation we will summarize the results of a longitudinal pre- and post-campaign survey.   This project will use an RDD, list-assisted CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviewing) format to benchmark attitudes, behavioral intentions, and awareness of specific television spots that will be circulated in the Southwestern United States (HHS Region 6) in April, 2011. A 10-minute pre-campaign survey will be conducted among 1446 male and female respondents, aged 25 to 54. The screening determinants are smokers and non-smokers living within the target DMAs within the five HHS Region 6 states.   A 6-minute post-campaign survey will be conducted among 867 male and female respondents, aged 25 to 54. The survey will provide awareness of each individual ad to be aired and the extent to which the ads motivate respondents to do the following:  quit smoking and evaluate their smoking behavior or the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Conclusions: At this time the pre-campaign is currently being fielded.  The post-campaign survey will be fielded in early June after the 12 week campaign. 

Implications for research and/or practice: Empirically grounded evidence about the impact of a 12-week media campaign can provide insights regarding ad awareness, media purchasing strategy, and to inform future media campaigns.