The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #42805

Elizabeth Schar, BS and Karen K. Gutierrez, BA. Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3528 Traskwood Lane, Cincinnati, OH 45208, 513-871-8715, elzabth@aol.com

Tobacco use is the leading cause of death in many countries and, unchecked, it will contribute to more than 10 million deaths annually by the year 2030. Because more than 80% of adult smokers began smoking under age 18, it is critical that reductions in youth smoking are made to reduce the numbers of tobacco-addicted adults. In fact, many countries around the world are concerned about rising rates of youth tobacco use, particularly as tobacco companies expand into countries without many tobacco control policies or tobacco marketing restrictions in place. Media campaigns have been proven to be one key element of successful comprehensive tobacco control programs, so this review is meant to help those who are developing campaigns and need to understand what works/doesn't work well.

This presentation will focus on lessons learned from this review, in the following areas: 1) how to best define target audiences in order to maximize the likelihood that they will listen to, internalize and act upon your messages 2) the message strategies found to be most effective in influencing youth to resist or reject tobacco 3) appropriate tone of messages to maximize acceptance 4) appropriate levels of media presence to ensure that messages are seen often enough, for long enough periods, and in the right venues 5) the importance of comprehensive programs and synergies between tobacco control elements 6) the role and importance of thorough evaluation plans 7) the role of youth involvement and how to make it positively contribute to the overall program

Learning Objectives:

• Identify key components of successful youth tobacco prevention campaigns
• Describe global learnings related to targeting, message content, advertising format, message tone, media presence, comprehensiveness of, and synergy between, tobacco control elements, evaluation, and youth involvement.
• Understand (by having watched example ads) the types of targeting, messaging, format, and tone that have worked to contribute to successful tobacco use reduction.
• Apply the learnings to their own tobacco use reduction campaigns or youth high risk behavior campaigns.

Keywords: Youth, Tobacco

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: consultant to CDC