Social Branding to Decrease Smoking Among Young Adults in Bars

Abstract

Objectives We evaluated a Social Branding antitobacco intervention for “hipster” young adults that was implemented between 2008 and 2011 in San Diego, California. Methods We conducted repeated cross-sectional surveys of random samples of young adults going to bars at baseline and over a 3-year follow-up. We used multinomial logistic regression to evaluate changes in daily smoking, nondaily smoking, and binge drinking, controlling for demographic characteristics, alcohol use, advertising receptivity, trend sensitivity, and tobacco-related attitudes. Results During the intervention, current (past 30 day) smoking decreased from 57% (baseline) to 48% (at follow-up 3; P=.002), and daily smoking decreased from 22% to 15% (P<.001). There were significant interactions between hipster affiliation and alcohol use on smoking. Among hipster binge drinkers, the odds of daily smoking (odds ratio [OR] = 0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.30, 0.63) and nondaily smoking (OR = 0.57; 95% CI = 0.42, 0.77) decreased significantly at follow-up 3. Binge drinking also decreased significantly at follow-up 3 (OR = 0.64; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.78). Conclusions Social Branding campaigns are a promising strategy to decrease smoking in young adult bar patrons.

Social Branding to Decrease Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Young Adult Smoking

“…Compared to baseline, post-intervention both current smoking (56% vs. 48%, p = .002) and daily smoking (22% vs. 15%, p < .001) were significantly lower, and among Hipster binge drinkers both daily and nondaily smoking were significantly lower at follow up in controlled analyses. 22 This study adds to the literature due to its focus on the LGBT population, and a further analysis of response to campaign exposure and understanding the smokefree message. This study is also consistent with another study of an intervention in gay bars that targeted sexual behaviors.…”

“…The basic components of Social Branding interventions have been described previously, 22 but this LGBT tailored campaign was distinctive in several ways ( Table 1). The intervention was centered on the development of a Social Brand, "CRUSH," that targeted young adults in the Las Vegas LGBT bar and nightclub scene.…”

“…Participants who reported that they "liked" or "really liked" the campaign were collapsed, as well as those who "disliked" or "really disliked" the campaign. 22 CRUSH design 23 Social brand The CRUSH brand was described as "cute, fresh, and smokefree" and the tagline for the campaign was "partying fresh and smokefree." Core brand personality elements: youthful and trendy image oriented and fashionable highly social and extroverted focused on its association with key influencers within the young adult LGBT community oriented towards socializing, going out, making new friends and having a good time against tobacco use because it reduces a person's attractiveness and social appeal, and against the tobacco industry because their actions do not align with the values of the LGBT community.…”

The association of smoking with drinking pattern may provide opportunities to reduce smoking among students

“…At present, bars provide attractive social spaces for smoking; new interventions could reverse this approach and recognise that, as spaces where smokers congregate, bars may represent settings for cessation interventions (Jiang & Ling 2013). Ling et al's (2014) innovative social branding campaigns, including branded events marketed to young adults through multiple communication channels, directly counter tobacco marketing activities and have successfully reduced smoking prevalence among high-risk young adult groups (Ling et al 2014). These novel interventions may also be effective in university settings where students spend much of their social time.…”

Recruiting Hard-to-Reach Populations for Survey Research: Using Facebook and Instagram Advertisements and In-Person Intercept in LGBT Bars and Nightclubs to Recruit LGBT Young Adults (Preprint)

“…Researchers are increasingly turning to innovative strategies for recruiting HTR populations versus traditional methods [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. One strategy that researchers use to recruit young adults involves conducting intercept interviews in social venues (eg, bars, nightclubs) where the target population spends time.…”