Sol Richardson, Professor Sarah Lewis, Dr Tessa Elizabeth Langley
Presenter(s)
Sol Richardson Research Assistant, UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies (UKCTCS), University of Nottingham
Abstract
Tobacco control mass media campaigns can play an important role in encouraging adult smoking cessation, and it has been suggested that campaigns featuring graphic images or emotive content are more effective than those which do not. Few studies have addressed the mechanisms through which this occurs. We tested the hypothesis that English anti-tobacco advertising with emotive content achieved higher rates and longer durations of campaign recall.
Recall of anti-tobacco television advertising was ascertained for 1,985 adult smokers residing in England through four waves of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey, from 2005 to 2009. These data were merged with population-averaged monthly estimates of exposure to government-run televised tobacco control campaigns. Advertisements were categorised according to their content, allowing us to relate the intensity and timing of exposure, and campaign content, to the probability of recall.
For every 10 additional population-averaged exposures in the 3 months prior to survey there was a 43.1% (CI = 11.3 - 83.8%, p = 0.005) increase in campaign recall while the same exposure to emotive advertisements resulted in a 76.5% (CI = 34.3 - 131.8%, p < 0.001) increase. Emotive advertisements were also more likely to be recalled 4-6 months later. Campaigns featuring emotive content achieved higher rates and longer durations of recall.
Source of funding: Medical Research Council Grant.
Proposal Title: "The effectiveness of mass media campaigns in reducing smoking, second-hanbd smoke exposure and smoking-related disease in England and Wales"
