A digital skills workshop for Indonesian youth so they can discourage tobacco use
With our partners, we create locally tailored, message-tested campaigns about tobacco harms that run long term in broadcast outlets and social media platforms, propelling the agenda.
With youth and adults continually exposed to enticing portrayals of tobacco use in the mass media, it is critical to counter that bombardment with content that reveals tobacco’s harms. Strategic communication has proven effective at reaching millions of people and influencing public opinion and behavior to be more wary of tobacco use.
How we work
Collaborating with local partners to create high-impact campaigns
Supporting the release in India of “Aaj Zindagi Jeete Hain,” a Bollywood-style music video about the harms of smoking and importance of quitting.
Partnering with the China Federation of Radio and Television Associations to create a multimedia campaign centered on “Smoke-Free Family,” a video encouraging families to avoid exposing their children to secondhand smoke.
Making available hard-hitting videos like “Every Cigarette Is Doing You Damage” to portray in visually powerful ways the damage tobacco can wreak on the body.
Leveraging a law enacted in Türkiye in 2008 that provides advocates with up to 90 minutes a month of free airtime on tobacco’s harms, we collaborate with the government to create powerful anti-tobacco public service announcements for television and radio.
Calling on Pakistan’s TV and radio stations to comply with their legal obligation to allocate 10% of airtime to broadcasting public service announcements such as messages that reinforce in an ongoing way the dangers of tobacco use.
Supplementing traditional broadcast campaigns with digital-first campaigns, we extend the life of social marketing content and create opportunities for ongoing online mobilization through petitions, buzz-marketing, crowdsourcing and other types of activism.
Sharing best practices
Creating the “Campaign Framework: Breakthrough Model” of the planning process for a strategic communication campaign to drive measurable results on public health issues.
Offering insights on the importance of pretesting campaign messages to assess their effectiveness with a target audience and hone messages that resonate best with that audience.
Multimedia Campaign Catalyzed Government Action on Tobacco Control in Senegal
Vital Strategies joined with Senegal’s Ministry of Health and a coalition of anti-tobacco civil society organizations to create a broadcast media and social media campaign to build public support for enacting strong tobacco control legislation. Shortly after the intense social media campaign that reached at least 3.5 million people, Senegal passed the tobacco control law that had been languishing in Parliament for years. Given the timing, the social media campaign likely played an important role in elevating the issue to public consciousness and creating citizen advocates, enabling the legislation to pass.
Multimedia Campaign Catalyzed Government Action on Tobacco Control in Senegal
Our broadcast campaign—the first-ever tobacco control campaign to be aired nationally in Senegal’s mass media—featured the video “Sponge”
Vital Strategies joined with Senegal’s Ministry of Health and a coalition of anti-tobacco civil society organizations to create a broadcast media and social media campaign to build public support for enacting strong tobacco control legislation. Shortly after the intense social media campaign that reached at least 3.5 million people, Senegal passed the tobacco control law that had been languishing in Parliament for years. Given the timing, the social media campaign likely played an important role in elevating the issue to public consciousness and creating citizen advocates, enabling the legislation to pass.
