Characterising 24 vaping education integrated media campaigns in Australia

Multiple vaping education campaigns have been launched in Australia to curb the increase in youth vaping. In the absence of robust evaluation data, understanding what message content and strategies are being used and whether they align with evidence-based practice is essential for informing future design. This study systematically characterised Australian vaping education integrated media campaigns launched before May 2025.

Publicly available Australian vaping education campaigns were identified through the Tobacco in Australia: Facts and Issues report and Google searches. Campaigns were coded for objectives, message themes, framing, format, fear appeals, behavioural guidance and cultural tailoring, using a theory-driven framework.

24 campaigns launched between May 2021 and May 2025 were identified, most led by non-governmental organisations (33.3%) and state authorities (33.3%). Nearly all campaigns addressed health effects (95.8%) and nicotine addiction (95.8%), while industry manipulation (45.8%) and financial impacts (41.7%) were used less frequently. Cultural tailoring was present in over half of campaigns (62.5%), but most relied on surface-level tailoring (73.3%). Loss frame was used in almost all campaigns (95.8%), whereas 54.2% used gain frame. Behaviour guidance was included in 75.0% of campaigns.

Australian vaping campaigns show a strong emphasis on health risks and nicotine addiction themes through loss-frame and fear-based messaging but reveal important gaps in the use of alternative youth-relevant themes, deep cultural tailoring and gain-frame messaging. These findings highlight opportunities to strengthen future campaign development.