Evaluation of a mass media campaign promoting using help to quit smoking

Abstract

Background: Although there is evidence that promoting individual cessation aids increases their utilization, mass media campaigns highlighting the benefit of using help to quit have not been evaluated.

Purpose: The effects of a Philadelphia adult smoking-cessation media campaign targeting using help in ad taglines were analyzed from March to November 2012. This study distinctively analyzed the campaign's impact at both the population level (effects on the average person) and the individual level (effects among those who reported exposure).

Methods: The 16-month mass media campaign aired in Philadelphia PA from December 2010 to March 2012. A representative sample of adult Philadelphia smokers was interviewed by telephone at baseline (n=491) and new samples were interviewed monthly throughout the campaign (n=2,786). In addition, a subsample of these respondents was reinterviewed 3 months later (n=877).

Results: On average, participants reported seeing campaign ads four times per week. Among individual respondents, each additional campaign exposure per week increased the likelihood of later reporting using help (OR=1.08, p<0.01), adjusting for baseline use of help and other potential confounders. This corresponded to a 5% increase in the use of help for those with average exposure relative to those with no exposure. Cross-sectional associations between individual campaign exposure and intentions to use help were consistent with these lagged findings. However, there was no evidence of population-level campaign effects on use of help.

Conclusions: Although the campaign was effective at the individual level, its effects were too small to have a population-detectable impact.

Figure 1

Sample sizes for the evaluation of rolling, cross-sectional and cohort smoker samples and monthly campaign media buys: Philadelphia antismoking campaign, 2010–2012 Targeted rating points (TRPs) are a standard estimate of how many people were potentially in the target audience (for this campaign, adults aged 25– 54 years) for purchased advertising.

Figure 2

Population-level effects of ad activity on quitting and using help: Philadelphia antismoking campaign, 2010–2012 Lines depict 3-month moving averages with CIs of ±2 SEs. Note that a moving average cannot be calculated for baseline, the first month, or the last month of the campaign period. Bars indicate the amount of campaign targeted rating points (TRPs) purchased each month (labeled on the right axis).