“When the Fun Stops, Stop”: An analysis of the provenance, framing and evidence of a ‘responsible gambling’ campaign

When the Fun Stops, Stop, is a prominent ‘responsible gambling’ campaign in the UK, originally funded and delivered by the industry-initiated and funded Senet Group. Since the Senet Group’s dissolution in 2020, the campaign has been overseen by the Betting and Gambling Council (BGC), the main gambling industry trade body. There has been no prior analysis of the activities, ideas and framing adopted by the Senet Group, who claimed to be acting as an industry ‘watchdog’ and oversaw what they characterised as a major public education campaign. We collated written and image-based material related to the Senet Group and its When the Fun Stops, Stop campaign from multiple sources. Guided by Entman’s four functions of framing, we analysed the Senet Group’s framing of the issues it sought to address, particularly harmful gambling, as well as its causes, and the solutions, focusing on the group’s main activity: the delivery of the When the Fun Stops, Stop campaign. We also critically appraised an evaluation of the campaign funded by the Senet Group, using the findings to interrogate the stated claims about the campaign’s effectiveness. The analysis showed that the Senet Group’s framing of the problem, its causes, and proposed responses resemble those adopted by other industries and industry-funded groups. This involves portraying any harms caused by their products as limited to an atypical minority, rejecting upstream determinants of harm, and promoting individually-targeted voluntary measures, all contrary to the evidence of what works in health promotion, and what would characterise a public health approach. Neither the existing evidence base nor the evidence presented by the Senet Group support their claims about the campaign’s effectiveness. These findings add to concerns about industry-funded campaigns in other areas. To minimise conflicts of interest, interventions intended to address gambling-related harms, such as public education campaigns, should be evidence-based and developed, implemented and evaluated completely independent of the industry and industry-funded organisations.

LGBT young adults’ awareness of and receptivity to the This Free Life tobacco public education campaign

PurposeThis study measures awareness of and receptivity to the Food and Drug Administration’s This Free Life campaign seeking to change tobacco-related attitudes and beliefs among lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) young adults.MethodsParticipants were young adults who self-identify as LGBT. The evaluation uses a treatment-control design. This study includes data from four survey rounds with participants from each round invited to participate in subsequent rounds and new participants invited to account for attrition. Bivariate analyses assess treatment-control differences in campaign awareness by round. We used multivariable logistic regression models with a time×treatment interaction and covariates to assess whether increases in awareness were greater in treatment than control from follow-ups 1 to 4. Descriptive statistics describe perceived effectiveness and models explore covariates of perceived effectiveness.ResultsAt each round, an increasing number of participants in treatment were brand aware (25%–67%) and reported high (16%–34%) and medium (16%–25%) video awareness compared with control (all p<0.001). Regressions revealed interactions in brand and video awareness, wherein the effect of treatment on awareness increased more over time, with significant treatment-control differences in change from follow-up 1 to 4 (all p<0.05). Reactions to all but one ad were positive (one neutral) with mean perceived effectiveness scores from 3.21 to 3.92 (‘neither disagree nor agree’ to ‘agree’ on 5-point scale). Perceived effectiveness differed by LGBT identity (all p<0.05).ConclusionsAt follow-up 4, This Free Life reached most of the campaign audience in treatment markets and has achieved higher awareness in treatment than control markets, at individual survey rounds and over time.

Keeping It Fresh With Hip-Hop Teens: Promising Targeting Strategies for Delivering Public Health Messages to Hard-to-Reach Audiences

Despite overall declines in youth cigarette use, tobacco use inequities exist by race/ethnicity. Health communication campaigns can be effective in changing tobacco-related attitudes, intentions, and behaviors and can be used to address tobacco use inequities by targeting young people who are at high risk for tobacco use. In 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched Fresh Empire, the first tobacco public education campaign designed to reach primarily African American, Hispanic, and/or Asian American/Pacific Islander youth ages 12 to 17 years who identify with the Hip-Hop peer crowd. This article presents an overview of two targeting strategies—(a) influencers on social media and (b) paid digital and social media advertisements—that Fresh Empire uses to reach its audience and increase message credibility that can inform future campaigns targeting hard-to-reach populations. These strategies help the campaign expand its reach, be authentic, and increase engagement with the target audience. Microinfluencers are selected for their alignment with Hip-Hop values and high engagement rates; local influencers are teens recruited to promote the campaign in their communities; and digital and social ads are purchased with a minimum number of in-target guaranteed impressions. Across both strategies, metrics have met or exceeded expectations, including a sentiment analysis that revealed 87.3% of comments on microinfluencer posts were positive. Initial findings suggest that the tobacco prevention messages have reached the target population and resonated positively, which may help to increase message credibility and improve receptivity to tobacco prevention messages.

Use of Nutrition Information and Understanding of “Percent Daily Value” on Nutrition Facts Tables: Evaluating the Impact of a National Public Education Campaign among Youth and Young Adults in Canada

Purpose: In 2010, Health Canada implemented a national campaign to improve understanding of “percent daily value” (%DV) in Nutrition Facts Tables (NFTs). This study examined sources of nutrition information and knowledge of %DV information communicated in the campaign. Methods: Respondents aged 16–30 years completed the Canada Food Study in 2016 (n = 2665). Measures included sources of nutrition information, NFT use, and %DV knowledge based on the campaign message (“5% DV or less is a little; 15% DV or more is a lot”). A logistic regression examined correlates of providing “correct” responses to %DV questions related to the campaign messaging. Results: Overall, 7.2% (n = 191) respondents correctly indicated that 5% is “a little”, and 4.3% (n = 115) correctly indicated 15% DV was “a lot”. Only 4.0% (n = 107) correctly answered both. Correct recall of %DV amounts was not associated with number of information sources reported, but was greater among those who were female, were younger, and reported greater NFT understanding and serving size information use (P < 0.05 for all). Conclusions: Results show low awareness of messaging from the Nutrition Facts Education Campaign among young Canadians. Such a mass media campaign may be insufficient on its own to enhance population-level understanding of %DV.