Syke: A Social Branding campaign to reduce tobacco use among alternative youth

Background: Preventing youth from using tobacco is essential to reduce the significant burden associated with tobacco use. Most prevention efforts, however, are designed for a general teen audience. To address this need, the Syke Campaign was a Social Branding intervention implemented in Virginia from 2009 to 2013 that targeted teens who affiliate with the Alternative peer crowd and implemented in places where Alternative teens socialized and engaged in tobacco use, such as rock concert venues, with a variety of marketing strategies to change social norms around tobacco use.

Methods: To test its effectiveness in reducing tobacco use, a baseline survey was conducted at rock music venues in Richmond and Northern Virginia (n=468) using a time-location sampling method, and three follow-up surveys were conducted in 2011 (n=621), 2012 (n=484) and 2013 (n=646) at “all ages” rock concerts. Awareness and receptivity to Syke, and the relationship to smoking behavior was examined.

Results: Prior to the campaign launch, 37.6% of teens at rock concerts were current smokers, nearly twice the state prevalence of 19.7%. By 2013, almost 60% of all teens surveyed were aware of Syke, 48.7% had been to a Syke event and 52.4% had been to the website. Smoking rates among teens aware of the campaign dropped from 48.0% in 2011 to 31.4% in 2013, and rates among Syke event attendees dropped from 52.5% in 2011 to 31.8% in 2013.

Conclusions: Initiatives that specifically target high-risk teens through their peer crowd show promise as a tool to reduce tobacco use among those most at risk.