Promotion of Smoking Cessation with Emotional and/or Graphic Antismoking Advertising

doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2012.07.023

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Volume 43, Issue 5, November 2012, Pages 475-482

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2012.07.023 Get rights and content

Background

Antismoking campaigns can be effective in promoting cessation, but less is known about the dose of advertising related to behavioral change among adult smokers, which types of messages are most effective, and effects on populations disproportionately affected by tobacco use.

Purpose

To assess the impact of emotional and/or graphic antismoking TV advertisements on quit attempts in the past 12 months among adult smokers in New York State.

Methods

Individual-level data come from the 2003 through 2010 New York Adult Tobacco Surveys. The influence of exposure to antismoking advertisements overall, emotional and/or graphic advertisements, and other types of advertisements on reported attempts to stop smoking was examined. Exposure was measured by self-reported confirmed recall and market-level gross rating points. Analyses conducted in Spring 2012 included 8780 smokers and were stratified by desire to quit, income, and education.

Results

Both measures of exposure to antismoking advertisements are positively associated with an increased odds of making a quit attempt among all smokers, among smokers who want to quit, and among smokers in different household income brackets (<$30,000 and ≥$30,000) and education levels (high-school degree or less education and at least some college education). Exposure to emotional and/or graphic advertisements is positively associated with making quit attempts among smokers overall and by desire to quit, income, and education. Exposure to advertisements without strong negative emotions or graphic images had no effect.

Conclusions

Strongly emotional and graphic antismoking advertisements are effective in increasing population-level quit attempts among adult smokers.

Section snippets

Background

A large body of evidence demonstrates that televised mass media campaigns to encourage smoking cessation can contribute to reductions in adult smoking prevalence.1, 2, 3, 4 Although the growing evidence base indicates that antismoking campaigns can promote cessation, less is known about the dose of advertising related to behavioral change among adult smokers, the types of messages that are most effective, and the degree to which sustained televised mass media campaigns effectively influence

Data

The New York Adult Tobacco Survey (NY-ATS) is a cross-sectional, random-digit-dial telephone survey representative of adults aged ≥18 years in New York State. Quarterly data from June 2003 through 2010 were examined from 8780 current smokers. The NY-ATS includes measures of cigarette and other tobacco product use, smoking cessation, exposure to secondhand smoke, and related attitudes, beliefs, and intentions; self-reported recall of antismoking advertisements; and sociodemographic

Results

The prevalence of making a quit attempt increased steadily from 2003 to 2007, paralleling the increase in GRPs, and then leveled off as GRPs began to decline (Figure 1). The level and proportion of emotional and/or graphic advertising exposure changed over time. Table 1 displays data from two regression analyses on the association between making a quit attempt in the past year and two measures of exposure to antismoking advertisements: self-reported recall and past-year GRPs.

Current smokers who

Discussion

Exposure to New York TCP's antismoking TV advertisements, measured as self-reported recall or as a market-level dose of advertising, is associated with increased odds of making a quit attempt in the past year. Although Wakefield and colleagues² found that the effect of discrete periods of antismoking advertising dissipate after 3 months, these results suggest that sustained periods of advertising affected quit attempts over 1 year. However, measures of quit attempts over shorter time frames

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Research articlePromotion of Smoking Cessation with Emotional and/or Graphic Antismoking Advertising

Background

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

Background

Data

Results

Discussion

Lancet

Soc Sci Med

Am J Prev Med

J Adolesc Health

Mass media campaign to promote smoking cessation among adults: an integrative review

Tob Control

Effects of mass media campaign exposure intensity and durability on quit attempts in a population-based cohort study

Health Educ Res

The role of the media in promoting and reducing tobacco use

Effects of different types of antismoking ads on reducing disparities in smoking cessation among socioeconomic subgroups

Am J Public Health

Generating Quitline calls during Australia's National Tobacco Campaign: effective of television advertisement execution and programme placement

Tob Control

Assessing the relationship between ad volume and awareness of a tobacco education media campaign

Tob Control

Investigating the relation between placement of Quit antismoking advertisements and number of telephone calls to Quitline: a semiparametric modelling approach

J Epidemiol Community Health

Effectiveness and cost effectiveness of television, radio and print advertisements in promoting the New York smokers' quitline

Tob Control

Promoting calls to a quitline: quantifying the influence of message theme, strong negative emotions and graphic images in television advertisements

Tob Control

Uptake and effectiveness of the Australian Telephone Quitline service in the context of a mass media campaign

Tob Control

The association between advertising and calls to a tobacco quitline

Tob Control

Promoting smoking cessation in the U.S.: effect of public service announcements on the Cancer Information Service telephone line

J Natl Cancer Inst

The effectiveness of television advertising campaigns on generating calls to a national Quitline by Maori

Tob Control

2008/2009 annual report: moving quitlines forward

Anti-tobacco television advertising and indicators of smoking cessation in adults: a cohort study

Health Educ Res

The effects of smoking-related television advertising on smoking and intentions to quit among adults in the U.S.: 1999−2007

Am J Public Health

Research article
Promotion of Smoking Cessation with Emotional and/or Graphic Antismoking Advertising