Humour and alarmism in melanoma prevention: a randomized controlled study of three types of information leaflet

Effectiveness of melanoma prevention depends on how it is accepted by the population. Humour and alarmism are often used in campaigns, but no information is available about how much they may improve or limit the impact of a campaign. Three different leaflets containing the same information about sun exposure and skin cancers were developed using three different tones of presentation: humoristic (H-leaflet), alarmist (A-leaflet) or neutral information (N-leaflet). In this randomized controlled study, each type of leaflet was mailed to a sample of 300 subjects representative of the sociodemographic population of the South of France. A fourth sample to whom no leaflet was sent was used as a control. Fifteen days after the mailing, the 1200 individuals were interviewed by phone. Four hundred and forty-four of the 900 who received the mail read the leaflet. The percentage of individuals with a good awareness of melanoma was higher in leaflet groups than in controls. The percentage of individuals who read a leaflet was lower in the A-leaflet group and the percentage of individuals knowing what a melanoma is tended to be lower in the H-leaflet group. There was no significant difference between groups with regard to ability for self-assessment of skin sun sensitivity, risk factors and sun exposure. The tone of presentation seems to have a limited impact on the effect of a campaign, but alarmism tends to reduce the number of people reached by the message whereas humour tends to decrease the impact of the message.