The Dose-Response Relationship Between Tobacco Education Advertising and Calls to Quitlines in the United States, March-June, 2012.

Kevin C Davis,Ann Malarcher,Nathan Mann,Robert L Alexander,Paul Shafer,Lei Zhang

doi:10.5888/pcd12.150157

Abstract

IntroductionWe estimated changes in call volume in the United States in response to increases in advertising doses of the Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) campaign, the first federal national tobacco education campaign, which aired for 12 weeks from March 19 to June 10, 2012. We also measured the effectiveness of ad taglines that promoted calls directly with a quitline number (1-800-QUIT-NOW) and indirectly with a cessation help website (Smokefree.gov).MethodsMultivariate regressions estimated the weekly number of calls to 1–800-QUIT-NOW by area code as a function of weekly market-level gross rating points (GRPs) from CDC’s Tips campaign in 2012. The number of quitline calls attributable solely to Tips was predicted.ResultsFor quitline-tagged ads, an additional 100 television GRPs per week was associated with an increase of 89 calls per week in a typical area code in the United States (P < .001). The same unit increase in advertising GRPs for ads tagged with Smokefree.gov was associated with an increase of 29 calls per week in any given area code (P < .001). We estimated that the Tips campaign was responsible for more than 170,000 additional calls to 1–800-QUIT-NOW during the campaign and that it would have generated approximately 140,000 additional calls if all ads were tagged with 1–800-QUIT-NOW.ConclusionFor campaign planners, these results make it possible to estimate 1) the likely impact of tobacco prevention media buys and 2) the additional quitline capacity needed at the national level should future campaigns of similar scale use 1–800-QUIT-NOW taglines exclusively.

Highlights

We estimated changes in call volume in the United States in response to increases in advertising doses of the Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) campaign, the first federal national tobacco education campaign, which aired for 12 weeks from March 19 to June 10, 2012
For campaign planners, these results make it possible to estimate 1) the likely impact of tobacco prevention media buys and 2) the additional quitline capacity needed at the national level should future campaigns of similar scale use 1–800-QUIT- taglines exclusively
Variation in weekly call volume corresponded to patterns in weekly television gross rating points (GRPs) for ads tagged with 1–800QUIT- and Smokefree.gov

Summary

Introduction

We estimated changes in call volume in the United States in response to increases in advertising doses of the Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) campaign, the first federal national tobacco education campaign, which aired for 12 weeks from March 19 to June 10, 2012. We measured the effectiveness of ad taglines that promoted calls directly with a quitline number (1-800-QUITNOW) and indirectly with a cessation help website (Smokefree.gov). Telephone quitlines are a core element of comprehensive state tobacco control programs, and their promotion has been shown to encourage quit attempts and improve smoking cessation outcomes [1,2]. Quitlines provide services to smokers, including counseling, free or reduced-price nicotine replacement therapy, and referrals to other cessation resources [3,4]. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides supplemental funding for state quitlines, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) manages the portal function. Fifteen states (including large states such as California, New York, and Florida) use and promote alternate quitline numbers that connect callers directly to their state quitlines

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