The Impact of a National Tobacco Education Campaign on State-Specific Quitline Calls.

PURPOSE

The ads from the first federally funded national tobacco education campaign, Tips From Former Smokers (Tips), considerably increased quitline calls nationwide. This study evaluates the effect of Tips on state-specific quitline calls.

DESIGN

Precampaign, during-campaign, and postcampaign comparison; regression modeling.

SETTING

All fifty states as well as the District of Columbia.

SUBJECTS

Calls to state quitlines.

INTERVENTION

Tips.

MEASURES

Tips campaign exposure was measured by gross rating points (GRPs). Calls to quitline's 1-800-QUIT-NOW were assigned to markets in each state based on their area codes.

ANALYSIS

Multivariate regression was used to assess the relationship between calls to state quitlines and media market-level Tips GRPs, while controlling for market and area code characteristics.

RESULTS

Nationally, every 100 Tips GRPs per week at the market level was associated with an average of 45 additional quitline calls in each area code (β = 44.65, p < .001). Tips GRPs were associated with significant increases in quitline calls in 46 states and the District of Columbia, of which 11 experienced effects significantly larger than the national average and 5 experienced significantly smaller effects. We were unable to detect statistically significant effects of GRPs on call volumes for four states. Graphically, call volumes in those states followed Tips GRPs.

CONCLUSION

The Tips campaign significantly increased calls to quitlines for almost all the states. These findings underscore the effectiveness of national tobacco media campaigns for reaching state audiences.