Effect of the first federally funded US antismoking national media campaign

Abstract

Findings 3051 smokers and 2220 non-smokers completed baseline and follow-up assessments. 2395 (78%) smokers and 1632 (74%) non-smokers recalled seeing at least one Tips advertisement on television during the 3-month campaign. Quit attempts among smokers rose from 31·1% (95% CI 30·3–31·9) at baseline to 34·8% (34·0–35·7) at follow-up, a 12% relative increase. The prevalence of abstinence at follow-up among smokers who made a quit attempt was 13·4% (95% CI 9·7–17·2). Nationally, an estimated 1·64 million additional smokers made a quit attempt, and 220 000 (95% CI 159 000–282 000) remained abstinent at follow-up. Recommendations by non-smokers to quit grew from 2·6% at baseline to 5·1% at follow-up, and the prevalence of people talking with friends and family about the dangers of smoking rose from 31·9% (95% CI 31·3–32·5) to 35·2% (34·6–35·9), resulting in an estimated 4·7 million additional non-smokers recommending cessation services and more than 6 million talking about the dangers of smoking. Interpretation The high-exposure Tips media campaign was effective at increasing population-level quit attempts. The growth in smokers who quit and became sustained quitters could have added from a third to almost half a million quality-adjusted life-years to the US population. Expanded implementation of similar campaigns globally could accelerate progress on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and reduce smoking prevalence globally.