Few would doubt the povocative and often controversial power of marketing to affect change in smoking behaviors and attitudes. Case-in-point, a new TV spot for the California Campaign Against Smoking: cigarettes are raining down on a playground, and the voice over, representing the tobacco industry, says: "You understand...we need these new smokers...nothing personal."
The impact of that message, which reams tobacco companies for targeting kids, is awesome. But arguably just as compelling if not more influential than the anti-tobacco messages are the fun, happy-go-lucky, it s-the-cool-thing-to-do tobacco ads which flood the teen market.
While addressing the complexities of marketing where health-related attitudes and behaviors are concerned, Bill Novelli, president of the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids, charged fellow PR and marketing professionals at a recent PRSA conference in Washington, D.C., to fight fire with fire. Posing the question, "Do Public Relations and Marketing Have a Role in a Healthier America?," Novelli discussed the arsenal that marketers have in combating destructive behavior and unhealthy decisions.
After citing a number of health-related problems that plague Americans like obesity, poor diets, and drug abuse Novelli zoomed in on the awesome role of public relations and marketing as a problem-solving engine. "[Problem-solving] is what marketing does, because it is a process that forges a close relationship among strategies, audience, and behaviors."
Through the Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids, the pervasive problem of the tobacco industry s stronghold on children is attacked. With an annual budget of $9 million and campaign funds of a little over $33 million, the American Cancer Society (ACS) and American Heart Association (AHA) created the campaign as a marketing platform for the recent FDA rule against tobacco marketing to children and to combat the mammoth influence of the tobacco industry on a federal and social level.
Admittedly a colossal mission, Novelli s campaign strategy is to "change the whole social environment" of children s attitudes toward smoking through primarily targeting influentials (Congress and top government officials), youth advocacy programs and eventually Hollywood. The campaign s answer is targeting Capitol Hill and the Washington press.
Novelli, who cofounded Porter Novelli and has an extensive track record with "social marketing" issues on cancer control, family planning and diet and nutrition, naturally gravitated to the fight against tobacco-control over kids in 1995 when the FDA rule was passed.
For ACS, a $10-million-sponsor of the campaign, the Campaign is "keeping the fire burning" on juvenile anti-tobacco efforts, said Linda Crawford, ACS national vice president on federal and state government relations. Citing that 90 percent of smokers get started before turning 18, Crawford looks to the campaign to be national "screamers and attention-getters" for the cause.
And for a non-financial sponsor like the American Lung Association (ALA), the Campaign continues decades of work on smoking cessation, but on a highly targeted level. "Because we are pooling our resources, we are making an impact with Congress and building on the FDA rule to prevent tobacco marketing to kids," said Diane Maple, ALA s director of media relations.
"PR works, and it works well within a marketing context in the field of health and healthcare," said Novelli. "Ten years from now, I want to look back on 1997 and say that [the campaign] was a big turning point in knocking back tobacco marketing and sales and starting the big decline in kid smoking." (Camaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 202/296-5427; ACS, 202/546-4011; ALA, 202/785-3355)