| Summary: | Background
Young adulthood is critical
both for tobacco initiation and cessation. This study evaluated the
effectiveness of an innovative Social Branding intervention to decrease smoking
among high risk “Hipster” young adults in bars and nightclubs. The intervention included an anti-tobacco
Social Brand to compete with cigarette brands, sponsored social events in
bars/clubs, anti-tobacco messaging created by local young adult artists,
branded clothing and promotional items, website, social media and direct mail
promotions.
Methods
Quasi-experimental
controlled study of young adult bar patrons in two intervention cities (San
Diego and San Francisco, CA) and one comparison community (Los Angeles, CA),
surveyed at baseline and two years follow-up (approximately 1200 each time
point per city) between January, 2012, and October, 2016. Cross-sectional surveys were collected using
randomized time-location sampling of venues in each city. The outcome was
current (past 30 day) smoking. Logistic
regressions controlling for age, sex and race/ethnicity with interactions
between location and time were conducted.
Results
Current smoking prevalence
among bar patrons was 41-50%, higher than the general California smoking
prevalence of 12%. In San Diego, where
the intervention was established for several years, cigarette smoking was
significantly lower (42% baseline, 38% follow up) than in Los Angeles (LA, 45%
baseline and 45% follow up) throughout the study. In San Francisco, where the
intervention was new, cigarette smoking decreased significantly (51% baseline,
44% follow up), compared to LA where there was no change.
Conclusions
An innovative Social Branding intervention was associated
with a sustained lower smoking prevalence in San Diego and a significantly
decreased smoking prevalence in San Francisco, compared to the control
community. While these data are limited
to California, this segmentation strategy can be used across the US and among
young adults in many other countries. This
approach could also build a global anti-tobacco brand for young adults.
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