The Lingering Effects of Tobacco Control Advertising

Abstract

In commercial market research, “pulsing” advertising is found to be more cost-effective than placing advertisements continuously. However, the benefits of pulsing policy in social marketing have rarely been tested. This study explores the lingering effect of tobacco control advertising. If the effects of tobacco control advertisements linger beyond the time they are on-air, this would provide a theoretical basis for using pulsing policy in tobacco control campaigns. This study analyzed responses from two independent samples of smokers and recent quitters, where respondents reported whether they were exposed to any tobacco control advertising in the last week. Sample 1 was cross-sectional (n = 3,106), and Sample 2 followed a self-refreshed panel methodology where 846 participants were interviewed for up to 6 times (3,120 interviews). Both studies used the same survey instrument and were in field concurrently. Eighty percent of Sample 1 reported recent exposure to advertising. This was strikingly similar to the response from Sample 2 recorded at their first interview (81%). However, panel members’ self-reported exposure to campaigns decreased at each subsequent interview (approximately a fortnight apart) and eventually reached 56% at the sixth interview. Building on the premises of priming theory, the first response from each Sample 2 respondent represented his or her intuitive thought—a result of the lingering effect of advertising. The drop in recall over time could be due to respondents self-correcting their responses after being primed in the previous surveys. Our findings suggest the effects of tobacco control campaigns linger and support the use of pulsing policy in tobacco control advertising.