BACKGROUND: Many question whether mass media, in the absence of other programming, can produce significant and sustained behavior change. METHODS: The 1% Or Less campaign in Wheeling, West Virginia (population 35,000), used paid advertising and public relations to encourage members of one community to switch from whole or 2% milk (high-fat milk) to 1% or fat-free milk (low-fat milk). The study used a quasi-experimental research design with one intervention city and one comparison city. The effectiveness of the campaign was evaluated by collecting milk sales data from supermarkets and conducting pre- and post-intervention telephone surveys in intervention and comparison cities. RESULTS: In the intervention city, low-fat milk sales increased from 29% of overall milk sales before the campaign to 46% of sales in the month following the campaign. The increase was maintained at the 6-month follow up. According to the telephone surveys, 34.1% of high-fat-milk drinkers reported switching to low-fat milk in the intervention community compared with 3.6% in the comparison community (z = 13.1, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: A media-only approach was sufficient to encourage a significant proportion of the people in one community to alter the dietary habit targeted by the intervention. Copyright 1999 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.
BACKGROUND: Many question whether mass media, in the absence of other programming, can produce significant and sustained behavior change. METHODS: The 1% Or Less campaign in Wheeling, West Virginia (population 35,000), used paid advertising and public relations to encourage members of one community to switch from whole or 2% milk (high-fat milk) to 1% or fat-free milk (low-fat milk). The study used a quasi-experimental research design with one intervention city and one comparison city. The effectiveness of the campaign was evaluated by collecting milk sales data from supermarkets and conducting pre- and post-intervention telephone surveys in intervention and comparison cities. RESULTS: In the intervention city, low-fat milk sales increased from 29% of overall milk sales before the campaign to 46% of sales in the month following the campaign. The increase was maintained at the 6-month follow up. According to the telephone surveys, 34.1% of high-fat-milk drinkers reported switching to low-fat milk in the intervention community compared with 3.6% in the comparison community (z = 13.1, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: A media-only approach was sufficient to encourage a significant proportion of the people in one community to alter the dietary habit targeted by the intervention. Copyright 1999 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.
Authors: Marialaura Bonaccio; Augusto Di Castelnuovo; Simona Costanzo; Francesca De Lucia; Marco Olivieri; Maria Benedetta Donati; Giovanni de Gaetano; Licia Iacoviello; Americo Bonanni Journal: Int J Public Health Date: 2011-12-21 Impact factor: 3.380