Evaluation of a social marketing campaign to support Mexico City's comprehensive smoke-free law.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the level of awareness and impact of a social marketing campaign to promote Mexico City's 2008 comprehensive smoke-free law.
METHODS: Four months after the smoke-free law was implemented but before the campaign launch, we collected data from a population-based, random sample of 961 inhabitants of Mexico City. We analyzed data from 786 respondents who completed follow-up at the end of the campaign to determine campaign exposure and the association between campaign exposure and changes in campaign-targeted knowledge and attitudes.
RESULTS: Recall of any of the 5 campaign materials was 69%, with a uniform distribution of exposure to 1, 2, and 3 or more campaign materials (25%, 25%, and 19%, respectively). Exposure to a greater number of campaign materials was associated in a monotonic relation with campaign-targeted knowledge of ammonia and arsenic in cigarette smoke. In models assessing support for, perceived benefits of, and perceived right to smoke-free places, campaign exposure accounted for a positive change in half of the indicators within each of these domains.
CONCLUSIONS: Social marketing campaigns can reinforce knowledge and attitudes that favor smoke-free laws, thereby helping to establish smoke-free norms.