Tobacco

Education

Describes the history of the National Tobacco Campaign.

Tobacco smoking is the single largest preventable cause of premature death and disease in Australia. While smoking prevalence in Australia has declined over time, more than three million Australians still smoke daily (17.4% of all those aged 14 or older). Continued effort is therefore necessary to maintain the decline and reduce the social and economic costs of tobacco use to the community.

In July 1996, the then Minister for Health and Family Services, the Hon Dr Michael Wooldridge, appointed an expert advisory group (the Ministerial Tobacco Advisory Group) to advise the Australian Government on future directions in tobacco control and to develop a new anti-smoking campaign.

One of the first tasks of the group was the coordination of a national campaign designed to encourage smokers to quit. Most recently, as part of the 2005 Budget, the Government committed $25 million over four years for a new National Tobacco Campaign to tackle youth smoking rates.

In developing this, extensive research helped determine what activity would have the greatest impact on smokers’ behaviour. The result was a media campaign featuring a series of graphic television commercials, supported by various activities by the states and territories.

The coordinated national campaign built upon the earlier success of individual state and territory Quit campaigns. These campaigns, which receive funding from both the Australian Government and state and territory governments, provide a service directly to smokers to help them quit smoking. The various Quit campaigns also undertake community-level anti-smoking activities, a vital component in a national effort to minimise smoking-induced harm.

The National Tobacco Campaign to date has had outstanding results with a reduction in smoking prevalence across all years since it was launched (23.5% at benchmark in 1997 to 17.4% in 2004). Further, the costs of implementing the National Tobacco Campaign have been more than offset by projected savings to the health system, estimated to be in the order of $24 million. The campaign also showed potential in reaching high-risk groups such as youth.

More information on youth smoking rates can be found at:

• http://www.nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/Content/mono59

The National Tobacco Campaign has generated considerable international interest with adaptations of the television advertisements being used in the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Iceland, Poland and Canada. The campaign has received recognition through several industry awards both in Australia and overseas.

The campaign used television and radio commercials; Internet, print and outdoor advertising, and public relations strategies to reach non-English-speakers, Indigenous people, and service providers. Considerable upgrading of the national Quitline telephone support service has taken place in conjunction with the campaign.

The most recent phase of the National Tobacco Campaign has been implemented in two main stages. The first stage, the Health Warnings Campaign, was launched on 14 February 2006 to raise awareness of the new system of graphic health warnings on tobacco product packaging. The second stage, National Tobacco Youth Campaign, commenced on 26 December 2006 and aims to specifically have an impact on smoking rates among youth.

The key messages of the National Tobacco Youth Campaign will encourage:

• the primary target audience (young people aged 12-24 years) ‘to reject smoking’
• the secondary target audience (smoker parents) ‘to quit smoking in order to discourage your children from smoking’.

Further information on the National Tobacco Youth Campaign can be found at: http://australia.gov.au/quitnow