• US experience also shows that ‘grassroots’ campaigning is a key factor in countering tobacco’s influence in the community

Research carried out on international media campaigns aimed at preventing young people from taking up smoking shows that campaigns with a strong emotional appeal or those that expose the activities of the tobacco industry can be highly effective.  This was according to Karen Gutierrez, Director of the Global Dialogue for Effective Stop Smoking Campaigns. Ms. Gutierrez was speaking at a conference, Children, Youth and Tobacco: Causes, Consequences and Action, hosted by the Office of the Tobacco Control today (Thursday, 31st May) in Croke Park, Dublin 3.

Karen Gutierrez’s speech was based on findings from a review of mass media campaigns, including television and print advertisements, in nine countries completed in 2006.  According to Ms Gutierrez, the most effective campaigns to target youth tobacco use prevention combined several key themes including:

• Ads with strong negative emotional appeal, for example, producing a sense of loss, disgust or fear;
• Introducing persuasive new information or new perspectives about health risks to smokers and non-smokers;
• Using personal-testimony or graphic-depiction formats that youth find emotionally engaging but not authoritarian;
• Featuring multiple message strategies, advertising and media channels to attract, engage and influence diverse youth with varying levels of susceptibility to smoking;
• Providing adequate exposure to media messages over significant periods of time and using multiple strategies and media channels.

“In terms of emotional appeal, research shows that youth respond more strongly to messages that produce negative emotions – feelings of loss, anger, sadness, fear or disgust – than to humorous messages.  However, it’s important that ads don’t try to tell young people what to do, instead successful ad campaigns provide compelling information and let the audience draw their own conclusions,” Karen Gutierrez said.

“In our research, we found that another effective approach involves showing young people specific, targeted tobacco counter-marketing messages. It was found that ads that communicate information on the tobacco industry’s deceptive practices can be effective. Such ads educate the audience about the tobacco industry marketing practices that attract youth to an addictive habit while not revealing the serious negative consequences of smoking”.

Karen Gutierrez said that ‘individual choice’ messages, which emphasise that youth have the choice of whether to smoke, have not been shown to be effective. Data indicated that emphasising the choice of whether to smoke without offering persuasive reasons not to smoke is not an effective strategy for preventing youth from using tobacco.

Ms. Gutierrez referred to the importance of reaching young people through constant media exposure.

“Messages will only be effective if audiences are adequately exposed to them. The messages must appear often enough for audiences to notice them, internalise them and develop relevant attitude and behaviour changes. Campaigns must maintain a strong and consistent presence in broadcast media in order to achieve goals”.

Another speaker at the conference, Danny McGoldrick, Vice-President Research with the US’s Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, explained that the tobacco companies and their allies spend billions of dollars each year to make tobacco use appear not only normal but cool, glamorous, and even healthy. 

“The tobacco industry has worked for decades to weave tobacco use into the fabric of everyday culture.  This makes tobacco use acceptable and even desirable to both youth and adults.  To counter these efforts and to ‘denormalize’ tobacco use, tobacco control advocates must engage with every sector of the community.

“For example, such community action involves campaigning at grassroots level for the solutions needed to counter tobacco use such as higher tobacco prices and the expansion of cessation services.  It also involves proactive engagement with a wide range of groups – such as business organisations, youth groups, the education community, sports entities and the faith community – in the development and implementation of tobacco policies”, Danny McGoldrick said.