Message getting through?

Social Science and Medicine includes a study from the USA on socio-economic variation in recall and perceived effectiveness of smoking cessation campaigns. Examining data from the New York Media Tracking Survey Online and their own web survey, researchers found that smokers with lower levels of education and income were more likely to recall and find effective advertisements that included graphic imagery or personal testimony rather than those that described how to quit smoking. DH’s latest version of guidance on delivery and monitoring of local stop smoking services is now available to download. Local Government Improvement and Development has published a best practice guide for local authorities, Reducing health inequalities though tobacco control.

Blowing their own trumpet

At least 70 000 lives have been saved in the ten years of NHS Stop Smoking Services' existence, according to figures released by DH in September. Elsewhere, it's clear that there's a long way to go: cigarette packet information is still unclear as to risk, an article in the Journal of Public Health suggests. Researchers in this study from Canada looked at consumer perception of brand descriptors and imagery as well as the association of perceptions of taste of health risk in expressions such as "low tar" or "mild". An article on the BBC website may suggest the direction of travel.