Smoke-free São Paulo: a campaign evaluation and the case for sustained mass media investment

Abstract

Although evidence from high-income countries suggests that mass media campaigns can increase knowledge of tobacco harms and encourage smoking cessation, there is little evidence of this from developing countries, particularly related to campaigns that seek to increase support for smoke-free places and laws. Two campaigns that ran in São Paulo, Brazil during implementation of a smoke-free law in São Paulo were evaluated to assess their effectiveness in changing attitudes and creating support for the law. The campaigns were evaluated through street-intercept surveys conducted in early July and late August in São Paulo (Ns= 603; 615). Findings reveal that mass communications can generate support for smoke-free laws and underscore the importance of running campaigns that are both well-funded and that use harder-hitting, more graphic messages.

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

“…A MMC aimed at Maori smokers and recent quitters in New Zealand found 54% reported the campaign made them more likely to quit, but no change in quit intentions was observed before versus after the campaign 12. A 21-day campaign in Brazil communicating the harm of secondhand smoke produced improvements in some, but not all, campaign-targeted beliefs 9. Although some positive effects were found in each of these studies, they only measured change in attitudes and intentions, rather than actual quitting associated with exposure to MMCs.…”

“…A cost-effectiveness study illustrated that benefits substantially increase over the remaining lifetime of quitters 95. Most studies of MMC benefit are from high-income countries, so a challenge for the future is to ensure the application of effective tobacco control MMCs in low-income and middle-income countries 9 96 97…”

“…This is important since such interaction can amplify campaign effects by extending the reach of the campaign to those not directly exposed, and by facilitating deeper message processing among those who have. In addition, few studies have examined how MMCs affect tobacco policy change, although MMCs have been used to publicise forthcoming legislation (eg, Alday et al and Chang et al 9 105). …”

Does Tobacco-Control Mass Media Campaign Exposure Prevent Relapse Among Recent Quitters?

“…Each increase of 100 GRPs per quarter (i.e., each additional ad) was associated with a 5% increase in the likelihood of being quit at follow-up so that a 1,000 GRP increase per quarter (each additional 10 ads per quarter) improved quitting at follow-up by 50%. Also, these results suggest that tobacco-control policy changes that result in many additional smokers in the population trying to quit-such as tobacco tax increases, smoke-free laws, or introduction of pictorial health warnings-may be enhanced by the timely running of mass media campaigns to increase the likelihood that quit attempts will be sustained in the longer term (Alday et al, 2010; Brennan, Durkin, Cotter, Harper, & Wakefield, 2011;Dunlop, Perez, & Cotter, 2011). Such concurrent media campaigns may not necessarily need to make specific reference to the policy change but might simply broadcast messages pertaining to the need to quit smoking (Hammond et al, under review).…”

Responses to antismoking radio and television advertisements among adult smokers and non-smokers across Africa: message-testing results from Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya

“…Mass media is a proven intervention against tobacco use: effective campaigns have been shown to prevent smoking uptake and promote cessation,1–3 protect children and adults from secondhand smoke (SHS),4 build public support for strong policies,5 6 and enhance implementation of policies, such as pictorial health warnings 7. However, not all mass media campaigns are equally effective.…”