The Real Cost E-Cigarette Prevention Campaign
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Background
A critical part of FDA’s public health mission is educating youth about the dangers of e-cigarette use. According to the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), an estimated 1.63 million middle and high school students across the nation have reported using e-cigarettes. Since 2018, FDA has prioritized its public education efforts to further reduce e-cigarette use among youth.
Our Goal: Educate youth ages 12 to 17 who are at-risk for using e-cigarettes in the United States about the dangers of e-cigarette use. The campaign addresses the “cost-free” mentality in middle and high schoolers with messages that educate youth that using e-cigarettes puts them at risk for addiction and other health consequences.
Campaign Research
How Research Guides Our Campaign
"The Real Cost" campaign conducts research with teens on an ongoing basis. Our research provides key insights about how potential campaign advertising (ads) resonate with our intended audiences. Campaign research consists of formative research and evaluation testing and surveys.
Through formative research, we continually refine our understanding of the campaign’s intended audience, stay up to date on the most effective ways to reach them, and identify and test potential prevention ads.
Formative research includes:
- Reviewing data from large national surveys, sales data, social media comments and trends and other sources to better understand teens, their media behaviors, and their attitudes and beliefs on tobacco.
- Directly conducting research with the campaign's intended audience to gather insights on their beliefs about tobacco products.
- Testing draft ads through focus groups and surveys to understand which ads our intended audience finds the most understandable, believable, and motivating.
Evaluation research allows us to see how exposure to the campaign ads might change someone’s perceptions about tobacco.
Evaluation research includes:
- Conducting surveys with teens, some multiple times over several months with the same group of participants, to understand who has seen our ads and the impact that the ads have on knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about tobacco.
- Evaluating our media strategy by conducting surveys at one point in time to assess how many teens have seen our ads and are aware of "The Real Cost" brand.
The latest outcome evaluation data collected between August and December 2023 show that approximately 67 percent of youth were aware of at least one “The Real Cost” e-cigarette campaign advertisement and 37 percent of teens were aware of “The Real Cost” brand. In addition, results based on multiple years of data suggest that there are significant associations between exposure to “The Real Cost” ads and an increase in agreement with campaign-specific beliefs.
For example, exposure was associated with increases in beliefs that e-cigarettes can expose the user’s lungs to toxic metals and cause lung damage; ingredients in e-cigarettes are dangerous; and e-cigarettes could increase anxious feelings, increase the likelihood of smoking cigarettes, and disappoint people who are important to youth.
In addition to sharing our research findings through webinars and other public forums, our formative and evaluation research is often published in peer-review journals.
How We Reach Teens
“The Real Cost” e-cigarette prevention campaign uses a variety of marketing tactics and creative advertising to reach its teen audience. Advertising and prevention materials are delivered across teen-relevant communication channels, including:
- Television ads
- Digital and streaming video advertising on platforms like Hulu and YouTube
- Social media to engage the audience on platforms like Snapchat and Instagram
- Streaming audio advertising on platforms like Spotify and Pandora
- Gaming-focused advertising on platforms like Twitch and Xbox
- Media partnerships with youth-focused content, such as Marvel Comics, Fandom, and Overtime
- “The Real Cost” campaign’s youth-focused website
Campaign Resources
Quitting Resources for Teens
FDA partners with the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) SmokeFree teen initiative to provide youth with resources for quitting e-cigarettes. “The Real Cost” campaign connects youth to these resources on social media and various digital platforms (Spotify, Pandora, Wattpad, etc.). Some of the quit tools and resources include:
- Quit Builder tool to help teens make a personalized quit plan
- Quizzes and Surveys to help teens understand vaping addiction
- Information about nicotine withdrawal and addiction and other quitting resources
Awards and Recognition
- Clio Entertainment Awards
- 2023: Bronze award in the Diversity in Storytelling category and the Television Branded Content Medium for “My Vaping Mistake”
- Effie Awards
- 2024: Bronze Effie in the Sustained Success - Non-Profit category
- 2022: Bronze Effie in the Disease Awareness and Education category
- 2021: Bronze Effie in the Disease Awareness and Education category
- ARF David Ogilvy Awards