Negative Ads And Smoking Prevalence.

Abstract

Letters Health AffairsVol. 34, No. 10: Variety Issue Negative Ads And Smoking PrevalenceHal Strelnick Affiliations Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, New York PUBLISHED:October 2015Free Accesshttps://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.1009AboutSectionsView PDFPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InReddit ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsDownload Exhibits TOPICS I applaud Amy Fairfield and coauthors (May 2015) for ethically framing New York City’s public health campaigns. However, a factual error may alter readers’ conclusions about negative advertising. The authors write, “It is noteworthy that the city’s smoking rates ticked back up in 2014, for the first time since 2002.” In fact, smoking prevalence in the city increased every year after 2010’s rate of 14 percent (to 14.8 percent in 2011, 15.5 percent in 2012, and 16.1 percent in 2013). 1 UK authors found a 41 percent higher recall rate for negative antismoking ads, compared to positive ones. 2 However, calls to the National Health Service’s Stop Smoking help line increased 58 percent when exposure to positive campaigns increased from none to moderate, whereas negative ads had measurable effects only with high exposure (positive ads with high exposure generated three times more calls than negative ads). 3 Both positive and negative campaigns reduced smoking prevalence (by 7 percent and 4 percent, respectively). 4Media campaigns should use the best available evidence on what reduces smoking, not the most memorable ads.NOTES1 New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene . Smoking status, trends (age-adjusted) [Internet]. New York (NY) : The Department ; [cited 2015 Jul 8 ]. Available from: https://a816-healthpsi.nyc.gov/SASStoredProcess/guest?_PROGRAM=%2FEpiQuery%2FCHS%2FchsX&year=Trends&strat1=none&strat2=none&qtype=univar&var=rsmoke3&crude=no Google Scholar 2 Richardson S , McNeill A , Langley TE , Sims M , Gilmore A , Szatkowski L , et al. The impact of televised tobacco control advertising content on campaign recall: evidence from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) United Kingdom Survey . BMC Public Health . 2014 ; 14 : 432 . Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar 3 Richardson S , Langley T , Szatkowski L , Sims M , Gilmore A , McNeill A , et al. How does the emotive content of televised anti-smoking mass media campaigns influence monthly calls to the NHS Stop Smoking helpline in England? Prev Med . 2014 ; 69 : 43 – 8 . Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar 4 Sims M , Langley T , Lewis S , Richard S , Szatkowski L , McNeill A , et al. Effectiveness of tobacco control television advertisements with different types of emotional content on tobacco use in England, 2004–2010 . Tob Control . 2014 Jul 18. [Epub ahead of print]. Google Scholar Loading Comments... Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. DetailsExhibitsReferencesRelated Article Metrics History Published online 1 October 2015 Information Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc. PDF download