Arizona’s Tobacco Education and Prevention Program has placed a special emphasis on reaching Hispanic populations. To this end, in the Spring of 2000, Spanish-language television stations ran an intensive series of anti-tobacco public service announcements encouraging smokers to call the Arizona Smokers’ Helpline. One ad appeared in the form of a short telethon where viewers were encouraged to call the Helpline immediately; the other ad featured a prominent news reporter “behind the scenes” at the Helpline discussing the merits of this service and encouraging people to call in. Traditional television and radio ads also aired in English and Spanish during this time period. This paper describes two studies designed to examine Hispanics’ responses to the campaign. Both studies (n1=1,204, n2=1,202) involved administering telephone surveys (using random-digit-dial telephone samples) to Arizona residents who speak mostly Spanish at home. Results revealed that the campaign was extremely effective at reaching Hispanics. Approximately 90% of respondents were exposed to the campaign and attitudes toward the ads were overwhelmingly positive. Ads about environmental tobacco smoke were particularly memorable. Of particular import, 84.1% of smokers exposed to the “behind the scenes” ads planned to call the Smokers’ Helpline for information, and 96.8% said they would recommend the Helpline to a friend. Implications for the development and dissemination of ads targeting Hispanics will be discussed.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to (1) describe ways of effectively disseminating mediated anti-tobacco public service announcements to Hispanic populations and (2) identify important message features to include in anti-tobacco ads targeting Hispanics.
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.