Tobacco.Reality.Unfiltered. Using Personal Testimonials in a Youth Prevention Media Campaign

Audience: Anyone working on or interested in the development, execution, and evaluation of effective social marketing campaigns will benefit from this presentation. Key Points: 1. The Tobacco.Reality.Unfilitered., or TRU, campaign has achieved high campaign awareness, is well received among youth, and has preferentially reached youth at greater risk for smoking. These findings are based on analysis from six years of statewide telephone surveys. 2. The TRU campaign, as an integrated component of North Carolina’s statewide youth tobacco prevention program, has contributed to record low youth smoking prevalence as established by analyses of the NC Youth Tobacco Survey and rigorous evaluation of the TRU campaign and the comprehensive youth prevention initiative. 3. Well executed media campaigns using a theme of serious health consequences can be an effective component of state tobacco prevention efforts. Other effective campaigns have utilized a tobacco industry manipulation theme that may not be politically feasible for all states. Our evaluation suggests that high awareness and impact can be achieved with a different thematic and messaging approach. Educational Experience: We will present campaign background and evaluation methods and share several campaign ads to provide full context and points of applicability for presented results and conclusions. Benefits: The TRU campaign is a real world example of an effective youth prevention media campaign. Understanding how this campaign was created and executed in the context of the political and budget constraints of a major tobacco producing state will benefit tobacco control advocates working with similar circumstances.