Promoting tobacco-free school policies through a statewide media campaign

Comprehensive, enforced tobacco-free school (TFS) policies lead to significant reductions in youth tobacco use. North Carolina is the first state in the United States to develop a statewide mass media campaign to promote the adoption of and compliance with TFS policies.

In order to guide campaign development, researchers conducted a literature review as well as interviews with 45 TFS-policy experts, stakeholders, and North Carolina legislators. The experts included state and national TFS researchers and advocates, and the majority of stakeholders were North Carolina school administrators and personnel selected because of their personal knowledge of and experience with TFS policy. Interviewees provided information on messages they believed would be most salient to highlight in the media campaign and the best type of people to appear in ads.

Recommended themes included (1) a positive message about TFS becoming the norm in the state, (2) experiences of school districts that had successfully passed TFS policies, (3) the importance of adult role modeling, and (4) personal stories from youth about the importance of TFS policy. Recommended people to appear in ads included youth and adults with a personal connection to and experience with TFS policy. Using these recommended themes and people, the TFS media campaign began in the fall of 2006. In the 8 months following the campaign launch, 9 additional school districts adopted TFS policies, increasing the total from 78 to 87 (out of 115) by June 2007. In July 2007, the North Carolina legislature passed legislation mandating that all school districts adopt TFS policies by August 2008.

Media campaigns can serve as part of a comprehensive strategy to advance TFS policies. Other states should consider these results in designing and evaluating a media campaign to promote adoption of and compliance with TFS policies.