Increased Dose Of Truth(R) Youth-Smoking Prevention Campaign Coming To A Town Near You

January 28, 2007 – 8:19 pm | posted in Pediatrics, Public Health, Smoking / Quit Smoking

Today the American Legacy Foundation(R) announced that it will deliver its successful truth(R) youth smoking prevention message to more youth across the country over the next three years. Through a $3.6 million matching grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the foundation will increase its advertising in 45 cities, reaching a broader range of youth, including youth in surrounding smaller communities that typically have less exposure to such campaigns.

“Every day, approximately 4,000 young people try smoking for the first time,” said Matt McKenna, MD, MPH, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “Counter-marketing campaigns like truth(R) are effective in reducing tobacco use and an essential component of evidence-based tobacco prevention and control programs.”

Reaching all youth is especially important for Legacy, given that more than 80 percent of smokers start before they turn 18 years old. And in late December, the University of Michigan reported in its annual health findings, Monitoring the Future, that the historic decline in daily smoking among younger U.S. teens has ended. This alarming public health news underscores the need for this increased dose of truth(R).

“We must overcome the toll tobacco is taking on American youth,” foundation President and CEO Cheryl Healton, Dr. P.H., said. “While we’ll never be able to match Big Tobacco’s current spending on marketing, we know that the truth(R) campaign is effective counter-marketing to the $41 million that the tobacco industry spends — every single day in the United States — to encourage Americans to smoke its addictive products.”

truth(R) advertising will increase in 18 states, with outreach focusing on surrounding smaller communities that have less exposure to truth(R) because of low cable television penetration. The states — all part of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between attorneys general and the tobacco industry — also showed high numbers of teens and high youth smoking prevalence rates above the national average.

truth(R) remains the only national tobacco-prevention campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. Research published in the March 2005 edition of the American Journal of Public Health credited the campaign with 22 percent of the decline in youth smoking in the campaign’s first two years (2000-2002). New research shows industry-sponsored anti-smoking campaigns actually can motivate youth to start smoking, not stop.

Research has shown that anti-smoking ads that convey thought-provoking, believable messages and evoke strong reactions, elicit higher recall and increased perception of effectiveness among teens.(1,2,3,4) To reach the target demographic of sensation-seeking teens who are most at risk of smoking, ads must be not only memorable, but also be hard-hitting. truth(R) borrows heavily from actual tobacco industry documents to share the truth at its most basic level, and to educate youth about marketing tactics the industry uses to attract new customers.

One truth(R) ad that will air as a result of this grant is called Singing Cowboy:

Opens with a man dressed as a cowboy riding a horse down a busy city street to meet his sidekick, who strums his guitar to get people’s attention. The Singing Cowboy removes a bandanna around his neck to reveal a hole from a laryngectomy. He begins singing a song, which starts with the lines “You don’t always die from tobacco” with the help of an electro larynx (a hand-held electronic voice box). At the conclusion of the song, we see a card with the words: Over 8.5 million Americans live with tobacco-related illnesses.

CDC funds for grant year 2007 are being matched 2.3 to 1 by the American Legacy Foundation. The federal share of the money accounts for 30 percent, or $1.2 million, of the total funds being used for the youth tobacco prevention project. The remaining 70 percent will be the matching, non-federal share provided by the foundation, for approximately $2.8 million.

The American Legacy Foundation(R) is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth(R), a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EX(SM), an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.americanlegacy.org/.

1 Biener L, Ji M, et al. “The impact of emotional tone, message, and broadcast parameters in youth anti-smoking advertisements.” Journal of Health Communication, 2004; 9(3): 259-274.

2 Siegel M, Biener L. “The impact of an antismoking media campaign on progression to established smoking: results of a longitudinal youth study.” American Journal of Public Health, 2000; 90(3): 380-386.

3 Sly DF., Hopkins RS, et al.. Influence of a counteradvertising media campaign on initiation of smoking: the Florida “truth” campaign. American Journal of Public Health, 2001; 91(2):233-238.

4 Terry-McElrath T, Wakefield M, et al. “The effect of antismoking advertisement executional characteristics on youth comprehension, appraisal, recall, and engagement.” Journal of Health Communication, 2005; 10:127-143.

American Legacy Foundation
http://www.americanlegacy.org/

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