Impact of an Australian mass media campaign targeting physical activity in1998

Background: Physical activity is now a public health priority, but there is only limited evidence on the effectiveness of mass-reach campaigns. Intervention: Paid and unpaid television and print-media advertising. physi cian mail-outs, and community-level support programs and strategies. Setting/Participants: A mass-media statewide campaign to promote regular mo derate-intensity activity was conducted during February 1998. The target gr oup was adults aged 25 to 60 who ere motivated but insufficiently active. Design: Cohort and independent-sample, cross-sectional representative popul ation surveys, before and after the campaign. The intervention was conducte d in the state of Nerv South Wales, with the other states of Australia as t he comparison region. Measures: Telephone survey items on physical activity, media message awaren ess, physical activity knowledge, self-efficacy, and intentions. Results: Unprompted recall of the activity messages in the campaign state i ncreased substantially from 2.1% to 20.9% (p <0.01), with small changes els ewhere in Australia (1.2% to 2.6%). There were large changes in prompted aw areness from 12.9% to 50.7% (p <0.0001), much larger than changes elsewhere (14.1% to 16%, p=0.06). Knowledge of appropriate moderate-intensity activi ty and physical activity self-efficacy increased significantly and only in the campaign state. Compared to all others, those in the target group who r ecalled the media message were 2.08 times more likely to increase their act ivity by at least an hour per week (95% confidence intenal = 1.51-2.86). Conclusions: This integrated campaign positively influenced short-term phys ical activity message recall. knowledge, and behavior of the tar-get popula tion, compared to the population in the region who were not exposed.