Background and Context:In Turkey, the prevalence of tobacco consumption as narghile (water-pipe) smoking has significantly increased especially among young people recently. In 2014 April, Turkey has launched an public ad campaign against waterpipe smoking.
Aim: Campaign Objectives:Raising awareness on the dangers of using hookah
Modifying formed or propagated false beliefs and attitudes concerning hookah 2.Causing behavioral changeStrategy/Tactics:Prior to the ad campaign, two surveys were carried out: a qualitative survey aiming to test and develop the public ad concepts(each ad concept focusing on a different aspect of waterpipe smoking – sharing, flavor and myths about waterpipe smoking)and a pre-campaign quantitative survey aiming to understand the perception toward waterpipe smoking and to measure the attitude about the key messages of the campaign.Based on quantitative ad qualitative survey we developed 5TV and Radio spots ,outdoor materials,Brochures and Handouts,Newspaper Inserts, Internet and Social Media Strategies.We have started to air our first ad in April 2014.
Programme/Policy Process:
Outcomes/What was learned:The results of pre-campaign quantitative survey mainly showed that the awareness about the health effects of water pipe smoking is not as high as those of cigarette smoking.It is important to conduct social marketing campaigns to raise people awareness about health hazards of water pipe.After airing all ads we will conduct a post campaign evaluation to measure impact of the campaign.(we are planning to conduct post campaign evaluation by September 2014)We also produced English, Arabic and French version of the materials.Since it is a global public health issue we want to share our materials with other countries without expecting copy write fees.