Real Cost: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Youth Tobacco Prevention Campaign

This presentation will inform the public health community of the development and implementation of the FDAs first tobacco-focused public education campaign aimed at reducing youth tobacco use among 12- to 17-year olds in the United States.  Nearly 3,300 youth under age 18 smoke their first cigarette every day in the United States, and more than 700 kids become daily smokers (NSDUH, 2012). Almost 9 out of 10 adult daily smokers smoked their first cigarette by age 18 (USDHHS, 2014), which is why prevention is so critically important. To reduce this enormous public health burden, the Tobacco Control Act gave FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products and established the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). Part of FDA’s tobacco-related mission is to conduct public education related to its regulation of tobacco products, by educating the public—especially young people—about the dangers of tobacco use. Staff from the FDA Office of Health Communication and Education in the CTP will provide an overview of FDA’s mass media campaign, The Real Cost, designed to dispel the notion that smoking is “cost free.” Attendees will learn about message development and message testing both quantitatively and qualitatively, as well as the traditional and innovative media strategies employed with the launch of the campaign in February of 2014. At the conclusion of this session, attendees will be able to describe how The Real Cost campaign will help increase youth’s knowledge of the negative health effects of tobacco and reduce the appeal of tobacco products.