Evidence-Based Resource Summary

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends mass-reach health communication interventions to decrease the prevalence of tobacco use, increase cessation and use of available services such as quitlines, and decrease initiation of tobacco use among young people. Evidence came from studies in which television was the primary media channel. Economic evidence shows mass-reach health communication interventions are cost-effective, and savings from averted health care costs exceed intervention costs. Mass-reach health communication interventions target large audiences through television and radio broadcasts, print media (e.g., newspaper), out-of-home placements (e.g., billboards, movie theaters, point of sale), and digital media to change knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors affecting tobacco use.