L.M. Vidlak and J. Huneke
NIOSH Education and Information Division
In the
summer of 1993, the Nebraska Department of Health's Harvest
for a Lifetime! program used a total of nineteen billboards
in fourteen rural communities to promote the message, "Wear
the Right Stuff. Prevent Skin Cancer." Three different billboards,
each bearing the same slogan, featured local people from the
community wearing wide-brimmed hats, long-sleeved shirts and
long pants. The billboards were placed near the hometowns
of the people featured in the advertising and ran for at least
ne month between June, July and August. The cost for placement
was $3,500, with several of the billboards provided at no
cost as a public service. The use of community members in
the advertising prompted attention by other media as weekly
and daily newspapers ran photos and stories about the campaign.
Two hundred intercept interviews were conducted in August,
1993, to evaluate the level of awareness generated by the
billboard campaign among the targeted audience.
In the
winter of 1994, eleven billboards ran in ten different communities
promoting the Harvest for a Lifetime! chewing tobacco cessation
program. The boards featured a photo of an "anonymous" cowboy,
the slogan "Ready to Quit Chew?" and a toll-free number for
more information. Each billboard was up for at least two months
between January, February and March, and coincided with public
education sessions and other media advertising being conducted
in the area. The total cost of billboard placement was $4,240.
Chewers
calling the toll-free number received a free "Quit Kit" and
information about public education programs in their area.
To date, nearly 500 Quit Kits have been distributed, with
about one-fourth of the callers mentioning the billboards
as a source of information.
Initial
evaluations of the two billboard campaigns have shown that
paid outdoor advertising can be a valuable method of increasing
community awareness of health messages. However, the advertising
channel has several limitations and drawbacks that must be
considered before investing health promotion dollars.
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and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not represent
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NASD Review: 04/2002
This
research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings
of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and
Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University
and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers
for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
L.M.
Vidlak and J. Huneke, Nebraska Dept. of Health, Lincoln, NE.
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