Is socioeconomic status associated with awareness of and receptivity to the truth® Campaign?

Background: The truth^® campaign is credited with preventing approximately 450,000 youth from starting to smoke, from 2000 through 2004 [Farrelly, M.C., Nonnemaker, J., Davis, K.C., Hussin, A., 2009. The Influence of the National truth^® Campaign on Smoking Initiation. Am. J. Prev. Med. February 9 [Epub ahead of print]]. However, no research has been conducted to determine whether lower socioeconomic status (SES) youth benefit equally from the campaign. This study examines whether socioeconomic status is associated with awareness of and receptivity to the truth^® campaign among youth ages 12-17. Methods: This study is based on seven waves of Legacy Media Tracking Survey (LMTS) data, collected from September 2000 through January 2004 (n = 30,512). LMTS is a nationally representative, cross-sectional telephone survey. Median household income and median household education at the zip code level were appended to the LMTS data. Results: Females had lower levels of confirmed awareness of the truth^® campaign as compared with males. Youth who lived in lower education zip codes were less likely to have confirmed campaign awareness as compared with those in higher education zip codes. Zip code level median household income was not associated with confirmed awareness. Receptivity to the campaign was not associated with zip code level median household income or education. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the effectiveness of the truth^® campaign could be enhanced by developing strategies to increase campaign awareness among females and youth from lower education zip codes. Increased campaign exposure within these populations could result in lower smoking rates and, ultimately, lower rates of tobacco-related disease.