Increasing Evidence for the Efficacy of Tobacco Control Mass Media Communication Programming in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Abstract

Antitobacco mass media campaigns have had good success at changing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors with respect to smoking in high-income countries provided they are sustained. Mass media campaigns should be a critical component of tobacco control programs in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Mounting evidence shows that graphic campaigns and those that evoke negative emotions run over long periods of time have achieved the most influence. These types of campaigns are now being implemented in low- and middle-income countries. The authors provide 3 case studies of first-ever graphic warning mass media campaigns in China, India, and Russia, 3 priority high-burden countries in the global Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. In each of these countries, message testing of core messages provided confidence in messages, and evaluations demonstrated message uptake. The authors argue that given the initial success of these campaigns, governments in low- and middle-income countries should consider resourcing and sustaining these interventions as key components of their tobacco control strategies and programs.

Acknowledgments

The opinions expressed and the data communicated in this paper are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Economic Forum or of all the members of the Global Agenda Council on Non-Communicable Diseases.

The authors thank Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for their support of this mass media work.

The authors acknowledge the assistance of the following staff members of the World Lung Foundation: Mego Lien, Nandita Murukutla, Jorge Alday, Rebecca Perl, and Yvette Chang.

Notes

¹Bloomberg Philanthropies has pledged $375 million thus far, and has been joined in this effort by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which donated another $125 million. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. See http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/Pages/bloomberg-gates-tobacco-initiative-080723.aspx.

²The MPOWER measures are M, monitor tobacco use and the policies to prevent it; P, protect people from tobacco smoke; O, offer people help to quit tobacco use; W, warn about the dangers of tobacco; E, enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and R, raise taxes on tobacco. See www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/en.