The Real Cost Campaign by The Food and Drug Administration Essay

The Food and Drug Administration launched the "The Real Cost" campaign to sensitize youths about the adverse effects associated with smoking tobacco. The youth initiative managed to scope an award because the campaign was effective and through proper implementation, the program achieved its goal. The Real Cost Campaign was launched in 2014, and its primary objective was to prevent susceptible youths from engaging in tobacco abuse. Furthermore, the program initiative was further designed for the experimenters of tobacco, and the goal was to prevent them from becoming regular tobacco users. The use of smoke in the United States of America is ranked as the leading preventable cause of disability, diseases, and deaths. The purpose of tobacco is the leading cause of more than 480,000 deaths annually in the United States (The Real Cost Campaign, 2018). Moreover, the problem is not limited to adults alone. Most people who abuse tobacco start using the substance during adolescence. According to statistics by the Food and Drug Administration more than 2,300 youths under the age of 18 smoke tobacco for the first time every day in the United States. Moreover, about 1,100 teenagers are prone to the use of smokeless tobacco for the first time (FDA, 2018). These statistics are a clear indication that the country needed a stronger campaign designed for youths and adolescents. The prevention of the number of deaths can only be achieved if individuals manage to reduce the rate of consumption in the country. Furthermore, the goal of the project was to sensitize the teenagers and the youths on the adverse effects associated with the use of tobacco.

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The Real Cost initiative was meant to illustrate how the smoking of tobacco is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the country. Additionally, it was meant to showcase the citizens that the abuse of the substance causes disability, diseases, and eventually leads to deaths (Duke et al., 2015). Therefore, tobacco abuse is considered to be an expensive habit because a lot of resources are required to contain the situation and to help the victims throughout the medication process.

When the Food and Drugs Administration launched The Real Cost campaign, the main purpose of the initiative was to prevent susceptible youths from developing an urge to try to use tobacco. Moreover, the initiative was meant to stop the experimenters from being addicted to the consumption of tobacco and becoming frequent users of the substance. Consequently, the target behaviour was divided into two: the project targeted both susceptible and experimenters of the drug (FDA, 2018). The Food and Drugs Administration believed that containing the two groups from being addicted to tobacco abuse will help reduce the number of deaths, disability, and diseases associated with the consumption of the drug.

The initiative aimed to reach more than ten million youths aged 12 to 17 in the United States of America. The teenagers in that particular age group are either open to the smoking of tobacco or are already experimenting with the abuse of the substance. Additionally, in 2016 The Real Cost initiative expanded its target group to include the rural male youths aged between 12 to 17 years old who are at risk of smokeless tobacco use in the country. Moreover, the campaign aimed to convince youths aged between 12 to 17 years old who are open to the abuse of tobacco and those already experimenting the smoking of cigarettes to deter from abusing the substance because of its adverse effects in the society (Farrelly et al., 2017). The Food and Drugs Administration based the campaign on prevention theory. The initiative aimed to prevent the continued use of the substance by the youths. According to statistics presented by the initiative more than 2,300 teenagers who are under the age of 18 smoke tobacco for their first time every day in the United States of America. Furthermore, about 1,100 teenagers abuse smokeless tobacco for the first time every day (FDA, 2018). Therefore, the most applicable theory in the initiative was the prevention theory. The prevention theory aimed to deter youth from continuous abuse of the drugs to prevent them from becoming addicts of tobacco.

The Real Cost initiative effectively uses a multi-channel advertising approach. The initiative uses the traditional broadcast media channels, cinemas, websites, print publications, billboards, and daily social media engagements through the numerous social media platforms. The campaign used the multi-channel advertising approach because it was a nationwide campaign and the message was supposed to reach more youth. Moreover, the daily social media engagements are important because most of the people aged between 12 to 17 are active users of the various social media channels. Therefore, it is easy for the information to reach them in the fastest possible way (The Real Cost Campaign, 2018). The approach was useful because it assisted in broadening the campaign's reach and created space for teens to engage with their fellow youths on the dangers associated with the abuse of tobacco.

The formative research was effectively conducted by the FDA. Furthermore, it was through the developmental research that statistics indicated that more than 480,000 people die annually because of tobacco-related use. Moreover, the formative research further provided evidence that youths aged between 12 to 17 years old are smoking cigarettes and the problem should be contained before it is late and they are turned into addicts (Duke et al., 2015). The materials and the messages were properly crafted for the target group. The outcome of the initiative was evaluated through RTI which is an independent research firm. Moreover, the materials were designed to enable impact and change tobacco-related attitudes among the youths. The social media marketing of the campaign was based on the four (Ps) (Farrelly et al., 2017). The evaluation was conducted based on the product, price, place, and promotion. The product was the policy that was meant to curb the rate of tobacco consumption among teenagers in the United States. The price to be paid for the marketing of the policy was huge. However, FDA is a government-funded organization, and it had the required resources to market the conduct advertising in all the major broadcast channels. The implementation of the project was effective, and the social cost of adopting the new behavior is relatively cheap because it reduces the rate of smoking among the youths and thus directly reduces the risk of acquiring diseases that are related to the abuse of the substance. The distribution channel of the program was also effective because it managed to reach all the youths across the country. Additionally, the message was conveyed effectively designed for the right audience who are the teenagers (FDA, 2018). Therefore, the four Ps of social marketing were effectively used in the project.

Conclusion

I believe that the program was conducted effectively because 89% of the target group were aware of the project in the first seven months of the initiative. The campaign was well developed, and the message was suited to the right audience. Furthermore, the materials and the message conveyed to the teenagers was effective because it was meant to show them the dangers of abusing the use of tobacco. If I were given the opportunity to redo the campaign, I would focus on youths aged 11 to 19 years because people who are exposed to cigar rete smoking at an early age and it requires early prevention to help the youths avoid smoking of such substances.

References

Duke, J. C., Alexander, T. N., Zhao, X., Delahanty, J. C., Allen, J. A., MacMonegle, A. J., & Farrelly, M. C. (2015). Youth's awareness of and reactions to the real cost national tobacco public education campaign. PloS one, 10(12), e0144827.

Farrelly, M. C., Duke, J. C., Nonnemaker, J., MacMonegle, A. J., Alexander, T. N., Zhao, X., ... & Allen, J. A. (2017). Association Between The Real Cost Media Campaign and Smoking Initiation Among Youths-United States, 2014-2016. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 66(2), 47-50.

Food and Drug Administration (2018). Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/downloads/TobaccoProducts/PublicHealthEducation/PublicEducationCampaigns/TheRealCostCampaign/UCM384307.pdf

The Real Cost Campaign. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/PublicHealthEducation/PublicEducationCampaigns/TheRealCostCampaign/ucm20041242.htm