Evaluation of a mass media campaign on contraception in France

Three short films, promoting a national contraception campaign, were broadcast on French television in January 2000. As media interventions alone have little impact on behavior, we evaluated this campaign by focusing on intermediary indicators (identification and discussion) to measure factors known to favor the adoption of preventive behaviors.

A representative sample of 342 women, aged between 15 and 55 years, was selected for interview 2 months after the campaign. An additional sample of 254 young women (aged 15-25 years) was included to improve our understanding of the opinions and practices of this age group.

The campaign attracted much public attention and was well accepted. However, only 44% of the women found that they could identify with the situations presented. The films did not generate much conversation, with only one in four people reporting having talked about them. Women who had reported problems with contraception were no more likely to identify with the situations presented in the films or to discuss them with others than those who had no contraceptive problems. The factors associated with these processes (perceptions of the films, having a confident, past unintended pregnancy) differed according to age group.

Although this campaign was well received, it had a limited impact. Moreover, it did not have a greater impact on people who experienced difficulties with their contraception. The short projection time and the scenarios used (which gave an immediate answer to women's questions) might have limited these effects.