This resource corresponds to Day 1.
Adapted
from Success Stories: Florida "Truth" Campaign on
the Social Marketing Institute Web site at www.social-marketing.org/success/cs-floridatruth.html.
In
1997, the state of Florida won a landmark victory against the
tobacco industry, worth $11.3 billion. The settlement included
a clause providing an earmarked budget of $200 million for a
state-run pilot program to fight youth tobacco use. The resulting
Florida Tobacco Pilot Program (FTPP), better known by its marketing
component, "truth," has proven to be a highly effective
prevention initiative. Using a variety of social marketing strategies,
the "truth" campaign successfully repositioned tobacco
control as a hip, rebellious youth movement with the message
that tobacco use is an addictive drug marketed by a callous adult
establishment.
The FTPP approached its anti-tobacco campaign with the knowledge that in order
to reach teens they would ultimately have to drive a wedge between the tobacco
industry's advertising and its target audience. The program's managers initiated
this strategy by assembling a team of advertising and public relations firms
to develop the marketing portion of the campaign and by going directly to Florida's
youth themselves and listening to their attitudes and opinions. After a short
time, the program emerged with the concept of a youth movement against Big
Tobacco promoted through grassroots advocacy and a creative, youth-driven advertising
campaign.
At the Teen Tobacco Summit in March of 1998, the teen delegates, invigorated
by what they had learned about the tobacco industry's false statements and
manipulation, voted to change the campaign's theme to "Truth, A Generation
United Against Tobacco." The new "truth" campaign also included
the formation of a youth anti-tobacco advocacy group called SWAT (Students
Working Against Tobacco).
The FTPP and its marketing team established a plan to give the "truth" campaign
message maximum reach and visibility through a wide range of multi-media ads,
teen events, merchandising, and media outreach. The marketing plan also included
using teen input in every phase of the development to add style and legitimacy
and to empower the teen movement. With these efforts, they hoped to make the "truth" into
a credible brand name easily recognized by the campaign's target audience.
Putting equal emphasis on its advocacy campaign, the marketing team also designed "truth"-branded
merchandise, such as T-shirts and baseball caps, and distributed it via an
official campaign van at teen functions throughout the state. Other grassroots
promotional efforts included "truth"-sponsored teen events and development
of an FTPP Web site containing facts and statistics on tobacco, SWAT information,
and online advocacy activities.
In August 1998 the FTPP launched the Reel "truth," a program designed
to expose how the tobacco industry has permeated popular culture to manipulate
society's attitude towards smoking, and to empower teens to combat it. The
program included a number of conferences and seminars and ran in conjunction
with the "truth" tour, which featured a 13-city train ride and concert
series. Carried out by the marketing team through members of SWAT, the Reel "truth," with
the help of celebrities and politicians, encouraged advocacy participation
and petitioned the entertainment industry to portray smoking more accurately
and de-normalize its use.
The "truth" campaign has been a dramatic success. It is now the model
for the Legacy Foundation's national anti-smoking campaign. In just two years,
from 1998 to 2000, the percent of Florida middle-schoolers who smoked cigarettes
in the past 30 days fell from 18.5 to 8.6 percent, while the percentage for
high-schoolers went from 27.4 to 20.9.
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