'Love with Less Salt': evaluation of a sodium reduction mass media campaign in China.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the impact of a salt reduction campaign on knowledge, attitudes, intentions, behaviours and barriers to behaviour change relating to salt consumption in two provinces of China. METHODS: In 2019, the 'Love with Less Salt' campaign ran on China Central Television and on local television channels in Shandong and Anhui provinces. Data for this study come from two representative household surveys conducted among a sample of adults aged 25-65 years in Shandong and Anhui provinces: precampaign (n=2000) and postcampaign (n=2015). Logistic regression was performed to estimate the effects of the campaign on knowledge, attitudes, intentions, behaviours and barriers to behaviour change. RESULTS: Overall, 13% of postcampaign respondents recalled seeing the campaign, and reactions towards the campaign were positive. Postcampaign respondents were more likely to plan to reduce their purchase of foods high in salt than precampaign respondents (OR=1.45, p=<0.05). Campaign-aware respondents were significantly more likely than campaign-unaware respondents to report higher levels of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours regarding salt reduction. CONCLUSIONS: Findings reveal that salt reduction mass media campaigns can be an effective public health tool to support efforts to reduce salt consumption in China. Continued and sustained mass media investments are likely to be effective in addressing high salt consumption nationwide.

Is this health campaign really social marketing? A checklist to help you decide.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: Social marketing (SM) campaigns can be a powerful disease prevention and health promotion strategy but health-related campaigns may simply focus on the "promotions" communication activities and exclude other key characteristics of the SM approach. This paper describes the application of a checklist for identifying which lifestyle-related chronic disease prevention campaigns reported as SM actually represent key SM principles and practice. METHODS: A checklist of SM criteria was developed, reviewed and refined by SM and mass media campaign experts. Papers identified in searches for "social marketing" and "mass media" for obesity, diet and physical activity campaigns in the health literature were classified using the checklist. RESULTS: Using the checklist, 66.6% of papers identified in the "SM" search and 39% of papers identified from the "mass media" search were classified as SM campaigns. Inter-rater agreement for classification using the abstract only was 92.1%. CONCLUSIONS: Health-related campaigns that self-identify as "social marketing" or "mass media" may not include the key characteristics of a SM approach. Published literature can provide useful guidance for developing and evaluating health-related SM campaigns, but health promotion professionals need to be able to identify what actually comprises SM in practice. SO WHAT?: SM could be a valuable strategy in comprehensive health promotion interventions, but it is often difficult for non-experts to identify published campaigns that represent a true SM approach. This paper describes the application of a checklist to assist policy makers and practitioners in appraising evidence from campaigns reflecting actual SM in practice. The checklist could also guide reporting on SM campaigns.

Culturally and linguistically diverse population health social marketing campaigns in Australia: a consideration of evidence and related evaluation issues.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: This paper describes a review of population health social marketing campaigns targeting culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) communities in Australia in order to identify characteristics of effective CLD campaigns. METHODS: Literature on CLD population health social marketing was identified from electronic searches of databases in August 2004. At the same time, the grey literature was examined by searching the Internet and talking to Australian experts in the fields of CLD social marketing and CLD research. RESULTS: Eight studies met the search criteria, four from the published literature. Two studies that employed prepost evaluation designs provided tentative support for the potential efficacy of CLD social marketing strategies. The remaining studies did not allow for causal attribution as they used post-campaign only or process evaluations. Studies did, however, show that CLD communities access campaign-related information from both mainstream and ethnic media channels. In addition, Vietnamese respondents were more likely to access campaign messages through ethnic radio and Chinese respondents through ethnic press. CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence to clearly identify the characteristics of effective CLD campaigns. Campaign evaluation designs used to evaluate social marketing strategies targeting CLD communities in Australia are generally weak, but there is tentative evidence supporting the potential efficacy of these strategies in some Australian settings.