Adults' response to Massachusetts anti-tobacco television advertisements: impact of viewer and advertisement characteristics

Objective-To assess adults' receptivity to the Massachusetts television ant i-tobacco campaign. Reactions were examined as a function of respondents' d emographics, baseline tobacco control attitudes, changes in smoking status during the campaign, and advertisements' affective qualities. Design-A random digit dial telephone survey in 1993 at the start of the med ia campaign and re-interview in 1996 of respondents to the baseline survey. Participants-Respondents were 1544 adults who completed the baseline and fo llow up interview. Intervention-By the time the follow up survey was completed, approximately $49 million had been spent on the media campaign. Approximately 66 spots ha d been aired. Main outcome measures-Reported exposure to television advertisements; perce ived effectiveness of nine specific advertisements each. Results-56% of respondents reported seeing anti-tobacco advertisements at l east once a week during the preceding three years. The average effectivenes s rating for all advertisements recalled on a 0-10 scale was 7.29, and did not differ by smoking status group. Advertisements eliciting strong negativ e emotions (sadness and fear) were rated most effective by quitters, non-sm okers, and by smokers who at baseline were planning to quit soon. Humorous, entertaining advertisements were seen as ineffective by all group. Conclusion-The Massachusetts antitobacco campaign achieved high levels of p enetration into the population and was well received by both smokers and no n-smokers. The results suggest that advertisements depicting suffering as a result of tobacco use may be instrumental in promoting cessation or reinfo rcing the decision to quit. Further research is needed to lend additional s upport to the link between perceived effectiveness and smoking behaviour ch ange.