title: Effectiveness of a television advertisement campaign on giving cigarettes in a chinese population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anti-tobacco television advertisement campaigns may convey messages on smoking-related health consequences and create norms against giving cigarettes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Altogether, 156 and 112 slots of a television advertisement "Giving cigarettes is giving harm" were aired on Suzhou and Yizheng, respectively, over one month in 2010. Participants were recruited from 15 locations in Suzhou and 8 locations in Yizheng using a street intercept method. Overall 2306 residents aged 18-45 years completed questionnaires, including 1142 before the campaign and 1164 after, with respective response rates of 79.1% and 79.7%. Chi square tests were used to compare the difference between categorical variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After the campaign, 36.0% of subjects recalled that they had seen the advertisement. Residents of Suzhou had a higher recall rate than those of Yizheng (47.6% vs. 20.6%, P < 0.001). The rate of not giving cigarettes dropped from 32.1% before the campaign to 28.5% after (P = 0.05). In the post-campaign evaluation, participants who reported seeing the advertisement were more likely not to give cigarettes in the future than those who reported not seeing the advertisement (38.7% vs. 27.5%, P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed that an anti-tobacco television advertisements helped change societal norms and improve health behavior. Continuous and adequate funding of anti-tobacco media campaigns targeted at different levels of the general population is needed, in conjunction with a comprehensive tobacco control effort.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Quanyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Yihe
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Guanqun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jiuhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Zumin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015397:Program Evaluation; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012922:Social Change; D066262:Social Norms; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television; D055815:Young Adult