Due to funding cuts, counter-marketing no longer airs. However, prior to cuts, The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi had two counter-marketing campaigns, which informed Mississippi's youth about the dangers of tobacco use.
Revealing the Truth Behind a False Promise
We’ve all seen the slick ads. Slim girls with gorgeous smiles and tag lines that promise freedom, independence and power. Women dressed in military fatigues holding cigarettes beneath headlines promoting patriotism. The promises made by the tobacco industry’s advertising were false 50 years ago, and they are false today. Yet, their ads still appear in places that reach Mississippi youth on a daily basis.
Counter-marketing is a recommended program component in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Best Practices. Through counter-marketing, The Partnership sent strategic messages that revealed the truth about deadly tobacco products and empowered youth to know when they are being manipulated. Based on extensive research, The Partnership identified two distinct age groups as audiences for counter-marketing efforts: the Age of Reason – the young children who love to soak up facts and tell others about them – and the Age of Rebellion – the teens who need to use their own natural sense of exploration and who want to rebel against the establishment.
Based on this information, The Partnership used counter-marketing to position the tobacco industry as the establishment and encourage the Age of Rebellion to seek the truth behind the tactics that the tobacco industry uses to manipulate them and their peers. This campaign was known as FREE.
The Partnership developed RAT (Reject All Tobacco) for the Age of Reason. RAT reinforced facts and refusal skills that this age group learned through in-school and after-school programs.
The Partnership spent money on counter-marketing because it is a necessary and effective component of a comprehensive tobacco prevention program. Simply put, TV commercials influence behavior. If they didn’t, corporate America wouldn’t invest billions of dollars each year in TV-based advertising. However, counter-marketing goes beyond just TV commercials. It was comprised of not only mass media, but also sponsorships in youth-centric events, interactive messaging, grassroots promotions, informational collateral materials, and a wealth of other aspects specially designed to counter the influence of tobacco company marketing.
