Mass-media campaigns about the harms of tobacco can induce quitting and prevent young people from taking up the habit, especially if implemented as part of a comprehensive tobacco-control programme.1 In many developed countries, anti-tobacco public-education campaigns have been a regular feature of these efforts. As a consequence, basic awareness of the harms is high although many users are still unaware of the full extent of their risk.
WHO recently published its 2011 report on the global tobacco epidemic,2 which includes the first-ever systematic assessment of anti-tobacco public-education campaigns implemented globally. The report reveals that only a quarter of the world’s population was exposed to at least one high-quality campaign during the reporting period.
Although these results are promising, much more needs to be done: 72% of the world’s population was not exposed to even one best-practice campaign. In nearly 150 countries, including 110 low-income and middle-income countries, there is a paucity of any anti- tobacco public education via mass media. This absence is troubling, because tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death globally, and the overwhelming
burden of tobacco-related deaths and diseases is shifting toward the world’s poorest populations.3 In view of the aggressive marketing practices adopted by the tobacco industry in many poor countries,3 the need to counter industry propaganda is all the more urgent.
There is good news, however: Of the 23 countries reporting at least one best-practice campaign, 16 were low income or middle income. These findings suggest that mass media need not be a tool of only rich governments of developed countries.
Understanding what is effective is critical, and in its report WHO used an established framework to make this determination. Campaigns were considered most likely to be effective if they included message pretesting, adequate media planning and delivery to reach target audiences through the optimum combination of reach and frequency, publicity to make sure the campaign also received media coverage, and an evaluation to assess whether the campaign’s objectives were met. WHO also used a minimum campaign-duration standard in its assessment: a campaign had to be run over a minimum of one short- burst 3-week period.
Global anti-smoking campaigns urgently needed