Objectives: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to communicate the risks of tobacco use to the public. Little research exists about methods to communicate the constituents of tobacco in a media campaign. This research examines specific strategies to increase effectiveness of a media campaign for cigarette smoking adults about tobacco constituents by including engagement text about smoking cessation and FDA as the source of the campaign.
Methods: In an eye tracking study of 211 current cigarette smokers, participants randomly viewed 4 cigarette constituent messages that varied engagement text for quitting (benefits of quitting and quitline number, presence, absence) and by FDA source (presence, absence). After the eye tracking session, participants were asked about recall of the national quitline number and the source of message.
Results: Participants in conditions with engagement text were significantly more likely than those in the no engagement conditions to recall the national quitline number. Few participants saw or recalled the FDA source.
Conclusions: Engagement text for smoking cessation on constituent communication campaign messages significantly increases recall of the quitline, an important resource for smokers.
Keywords: cigarette constituents; quitline; source credibility; tobacco communication.