Older quit ads still effective

REPACKAGING old anti-tobacco advertising campaigns can be a successful, cost-effective strategy to promote smoking cessation in younger people. 

Australian researchers have highlighted two recent examples where old anti-tobacco advertisements were successfully adapted to target younger smokers not familiar with the original ads.

The first was the highly successful ‘Sponge’ advertisement, originally aired in 1983, depicting tar being squeezed from the lungs of a heavy smoker.

After a new version, aimed at people aged 30 or younger, aired in October 2007, a survey of 453 people found the new Sponge ad achieved high levels of recognition, with more than two-thirds of smokers reporting it made them contemplate quitting.

The second case was an update of the ‘Artery’ commercial, originally screened in 1997, which showed fatty deposits being squeezed out of the aorta of a young smoker.

Evidence showed stills of the campaign on cigarette packets were poorly understood by younger smokers, so a new campaign linked the original image to that on a cigarette packet. 

As a result, almost 70% of respondents stated the new ads made them “stop and think”.

Tob Control, online 18 September