Evaluation of the 'Give Up Smokes' campaign: Impacts of the 2018/19 'Give Up Smokes' campaign materials

As part of an ongoing state-wide initiative to reduce the prevalence of smoking among the South Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia conducted the stage six (2018/19) of the ‘Give up Smokes’ Aboriginal-specific social marketing campaign.1 The sixth stage was rolled out state-wide with paid media at multiple community events and locations in metropolitan Adelaide and surrounds from January 2018 to June 2019. This report describes the results of the 2018/19 ‘Give up Smokes’ campaign evaluation, independently conducted by Cancer Council SA.

A mixed-methods design was employed to evaluate the 2018/19 campaign. Study 1 (qualitative) was a focus group study to provide qualitative feedback for the ‘Give up Smokes’ campaign. Nine focus group discussions were conducted with 35 Aboriginal smokers across three key metropolitan locations: Metro Central/Western Adelaide, Metro-Northern Adelaide, and Metro-Southern Adelaide. Focus groups were designed to evaluate the campaign against its communication objectives, considering criteria of attention, identification, communication and effect, and to provide insights for the development of future campaigns. Study 2 (quantitative) consisted of an intercept survey that was implemented in Metro Central/Western Adelaide, Metro-North Adelaide, and Metro-South Adelaide. The survey assessed awareness of the harms associated with smoking, engagement and impact of the ‘Give up Smokes’ social marketing campaign, and explored smoking behaviour.