'Why to quit' strategy effective in smoking cessation ads

Tobacco control programs that use television advertisements to promote smoking cessation should use ads that adopt a 'why to quit' strategy with either graphic images or personal testimonials, according to a new study by RTI International scientists.

The study, published online in Tobacco Control examined how different types of smokers responded and reacted to different types of televised ads that promoted smoking cessation. Scientists examined which types of cessation-focused advertisements were associated with perceived advertisement effectiveness among smokers. They also assessed whether key smoker characteristics (e.g., cigarette consumption, desire to quit and past quit attempts) influenced perceived effectiveness of different types of cessation ads.

Cessation-focused campaigns have used a variety of message themes. The three most common broad themes for cessation campaigns include why to quit, how to quit, and anti-tobacco industry.

"While there is considerable variation in the specific execution of these broad themes, ads using the 'why to quit' strategy with graphic images or personal testimonials that evoke specific emotional responses were perceived as more effective than the other ad categories," said Kevin Davis, a senior research health economist in RTI's Public Health Policy Research Program and the study's lead author.

Ad messages that focus on how to quit are generally informational in nature, providing smokers with support in the quitting process through websites, phone numbers, and plans to help smokers get started with quitting. Anti-tobacco industry messages focus on the questionable marketing practices of the tobacco industry.

Scientists measured perceived ad effectiveness with a new four-item scale assessing the degree to which participants thought the ads made them stop and think, grabbed their attention, were believable and made them want to quit smoking. The smokers were categorized based on cigarette consumption, desire to quit and past quit attempts. The researchers examined how smoker characteristics and category of cessation ads predict perceived ad effectiveness.

The study found that smokers who had less desire to quit or had not tried quitting in the past 12 months responded significantly less favorably to all types of cessation ads tested. Greater cigarette consumption was also associated with lower perceived effectiveness, but this association was smaller in magnitude.

"These findings suggest that smokers clearly differ in their reactions to cessation-focused advertising based on their individual desire to quit, prior experience with quit attempts and, to a lesser degree, cigarette consumption. These are important considerations for campaign creators, designers and media planners," Davis said.

Data for the study was taken from the New York Media Tracking Survey Online, a web survey of 7,060 adult smokers in New York State.