Reality Check: Incorporating parental attitudes into an underage drinking prevention campaign

While much focus on underage drinking is teen-centered, parental attitudes toward underage drinking are often influenced by their own early experiences, approaches such as the European model, concern about hypocrisy, and perception of social norms, which affect how they communicate with their children. In 2009, the Cambridge Prevention Coalition, in collaboration with the Cambridge Public Health Department, launched Reality Check, a social marketing campaign aimed at parents of middle school students. The campaign goal is to engage parents in talking with their tweens about alcohol and to set boundaries and limits. This four-year campaign seeks to increase the self-efficacy of parents to have conversations with their children, reduce access to alcohol in the home, and delay the onset of drinking. This presentation focuses on formative research conducted to understand parental attitudes and communication barriers, and how these findings guide the campaign's messaging and social marketing mix. Special emphasis will be placed on the use of new media, including the use of mobile marketing, Facebook and Twitter. We examine the pros and cons of incorporating local parents into the campaign design, how local custom affects messaging, and ways that Coalition and community partnerships affect all stages of the campaign. In addition, we present the results of an evaluation of the first stage of Reality Check and its impact. The importance of incorporating theoretical behavior change components in a local community-based campaign is also discussed.