“An insight into how anti-smoking campaigns can

be made more effective among urban youth.”

Submitted by: Group 11

T.Y.B.B.A- A
Amman Saraf 51
Anmol Bansal 52
Anusha Jain 53
Ashish Kanakia 54
Garima Madhok 55

To: Ms. Pallavi

Rallan
 Table of contents

Sr. no Topic Page no.

Introduction and background

1. 1-5
information

Gap found and the purpose of the

2. 6-7
research

Research Design, Type, data

3. collection method, tools used and 8-9
limitations.

4. Sampling 10

5. Findings- Charts and graphs 11-15

6. Data analysis 16-18

7. Conclusion 18

8. Bibliography 19

9. Appendix 20-22
Introduction:
Today a big percentage of any countries population smokes and an
even greater percentage of the population passive smokes, Smoking
alone causes many deaths in every country and is responsible for
countless amounts of diseases. Despite its many ill effects that we will
mention ahead, smokers seem to continue. Since governments,
societies/communities, institutions are realizing the ill effects of
smoking there have been a great many attempts to try and get smokers
to quit, but regardless of their efforts smokers continue.

The above chart shows the difficulty and challenge for any smoker to
quit smoking. The data makes it evident that addiction to smoking is a
real problem since 90 % of the smokers are unsuccessful in quitting.
Even pharmacological treatment could only at its best be 40 %
effective.
Why are people so addicted to smoking?
According to the National Health Services (NHS) in the UK the
Nicotine in a cigarette alters the smoker‟s brain chemistry, it changes
the levels of these chemicals and their mood and concentration levels
change. Many smokers find this enjoyable.

The changes happen very quickly. When smokers inhale the nicotine,
it immediately rushes to their brain where it takes effect. This is why
many smokers enjoy the nicotine rush and become dependent on it.

The more they smoke, the more their brain becomes used to the
nicotine. This means that they have to smoke more to get the same
effect. When they stop smoking, the loss of nicotine changes the
levels of dopamine and noradrenaline. This makes smokers feel
anxious, depressed and irritable.
Thus smokers crave nicotine when they quit, as smoking provides an
immediate fix to these problems. Thus it becomes difficult for
smokers to quit.

As is evident that smokers find it extremely challenging to quit

smoking there has been in comparison not much done in monetary
terms to offset this great challenge. State Tobacco revenues collected
are 50 times the spending done by the state to prevent smoking. In
proportionate terms not much is done to prevent smoking or reduce
the amount smokers smoke.
The Gap
There is a clear gap we see as the amount of effort required to get
smokers to quit seems to be tremendous as shown in the previous
studies and the efforts made by the government or communities don‟t
seem to equate that.

Modes currently used to stop smoking

 Anti Smoking Adverts

 Rehab Centres
 Anti Smoking Conventions
 Taxes
 Medicine
 Nicotine Gum/Patch

Purpose
The purpose of our research is to see why anti-smoking campaigns
have been ineffective in having an impact on the mind-set of the
young, urban crowd. On the basis of the research conducted, we have
suggested a few recommendations to be incorporated in the
campaigns for the age group 16-25 years.
Why stop the smoking ?
According to a popular website, “Worldwide, between 80,000 and
100,000 kids start smoking every day. Approximately one quarter of
children alive in the Western Pacific Region will die from smoking.”

According to the WHO:

 Tobacco kills up to half of its users.
 Tobacco kills nearly six million people each year, of whom
more than 5 million are users and ex users and more than 600
000 are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless
urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more
than eight million by 2030.
 Unchecked, tobacco-related deaths will increase to more than
eight million per year by 2030. More than 80% of those deaths
will be in low- and middle-income countries.
 Second-hand smoke causes more than 600 000 premature deaths
per year

It is evident that smoking has many ill effects and is not beneficial for
the society/community as a whole. It is one of the major causes for
cancer and affects not only the smoker but also those around them.
Who is most influenced by smoking?

As the chart shows a great percentage of the US population are those

who smoke between the age of 18 – 25 and an even more shocking
statistic is that a great percentage of smokers have tried their first
cigarette under the age of 18.

As is established before that smoking harms the community, the

smoker and the passive smoker we thus arrive at our mission-

Mission –
“To effectively reduce the rate of smokers in a population sect
through the medium of an anti-smoking ad campaign thus
understanding what kind of an advert would be most effective”
Research design -
Our research falls into both, exploratory and descriptive research
because of the following reasons-

 We chose to do exploratory type of research because we wanted

to know more about the situation and the problem.
“Why”- Why have anti-smoking campaigns been ineffective in
having an impact?

 It falls under descriptive research because we have used a

structured questionnaire to find out the views of the consumer‟s
attitudes, intentions and behaviors.

 We also did applied research because we wanted a conclusion

which can be used to solve our problem. Applied research is a
type of research which solves a problem.

Data Collection source and method -

Our research being a quantitative research, methods which we used to
collect the data are surveys which were conducted through webpage
surveys and printed questionnaire. Information collected was how
many cigarettes a person smokes in a day; did any of the campaigns
affect his/her smoking habits? , Why does he/she actually smoke?,
etc.

The data we have collected will let us know if people do get affected
by the advertising campaigns or not, and if they do what are the
things which they get affected by so we can have an campaign with
all those things which can have a huge effect so that people stop
smoking.
Research tools -
The type of study was conducted through a research survey to find out
whether anti-smoking campaigns are fruitful or not.

Limitations-
 Our survey only covers urban Indians in a limited part of
Mumbai. The area which we cover is very small and restricted
to very few people.
 Survey is limited to urban highly educated youth. This may not
be typical of the broader Indian population.
 Some people haven‟t filled the form completely; also they have
not given all the information which was needed.
 Data can be biased because people know that we are taking their
interview. People tend to hide the correct information.
 We need to do more work to understand the reasons why youth
start smoking ( there is a high instance of „ others‟ as reasons
given to start.)
Sampling
A sample is a part of a target population, which is carefully selected
to represent the population.

The technique used for the research -

Snowball sampling

Snowball sampling is a sub-part of non-probability sampling.

In this method, the initial group of respondents are selected randomly.
Subsequent respondents are being selected based on the opinion or the
referrals provided by the initial respondents. The referrals will have
demographic and psychographic characteristics that are similar to the
person referring them.

Why this technique?

 Our sampling element was smokers and there is no ready sample

frame available to get the desired element/data from. This
automatically rules out selection of probability sampling. As we
know that knowledge of the whole population is a must for
probability sampling (in this there is equal chance for every
element to be selected in the sample), and no such data is
available.
 The only way to get hold of the desired sampling element was to
catch hold of a random group and then went on asking others
based on the former‟s referrals. This went on till we reached our
sampling size (i.e. 100).
 People don‟t readily accept habits like smoking easily to
strangers and there is no available sampling frame of smokers.
The only way we could get such a sample collected was by first
approaching a group of random known people who smoke and
then going on their referrals.
 The method explained above is nothing but snowball sampling
(a type of non-probability sampling).
 Findings –

1. How many people smoke (Yes) or used to smoke (No)?

Used to
smoke
25%

Smoke
75%

2. For how long have people been smoking?

Longer
21% 0-1 years
33%

1-3 years
46%

3. How many cigarettes does a person smoke per day?

Upto 2 cigarettes 3-5 cigarettes 6+ cigarettes

12%

43%

45%
4. What factors influenced a person to start smoking?

Others

It was cool

Your parent/ someone elder in your

family smoked

Your friends in your circle smoked

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

5. A person usually smokes with-

Alone

Friends/ Colleagues

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

6. Awareness about smoking being injurious to health

7. % age of people who have tried quitting

8. %age of people who think about the ill- effects of smoking

sometimes

9. % age of people rating this statement “It is okay if I smoke,

because I only smoke few cigarettes a day.”

10. Rating of “I could give up smoking if I wanted to.”

11. The number of cigarettes smoked will-

12. Factors which could lead to giving up of smoking-

13. Awareness of anti- smoking campaigns-

14. Effect of these campaigns on people-

15. % age of people according to whom campaigns may or
may not work if aired consistently-

16. What should be shown in campaigns-

Pictures of diseased
lungs, etc.
20%
23%
The campaigns do not
preach, but talk to you
logically

If they showed real life

examples of people who
25% have given up smoking
32% and are now happy
Examples of other family
members who are happy
because the smoker has
quit

17. Likeliness of a person to go back to smoking-

Analysis-
The researcher asks the following types of questions-

A. Factors which could have had an effect in the respondents

starting to smoke. It is important to know the answers to this as
this will give a fuller understanding of the problem. This will
enable us to attach the issue at the root if we are able to target
the campaign at the reasons behind the reasons as to shy the
young people started smoking.

B. Questions focusing in the self-awareness of the problem among

respondents and their intentions regarding actions on it. These
are covered by question 6 (Refer questionnaire1, i.e., awareness
that smoking is injurious), if that has resulted in them trying to
quit ( Q.7 and Q.8), do they think about it occasionally ( Q.9),
and their attitudes towards the habit ( Q10 and Q.11). Having
answers to these questions will show us the respondents‟
attitudes which can help us tailor the message accordingly for it
to be effective.

C. The next series of questions is on the actions that the

respondents intend to take regarding their habit in the near and
medium term and the likely reasons which could induce them to
reduce or give up smoking. Answers to these questions will tell
us about their motivations, and probably help us to craft a
marketing message to those who are contemplating of cutting
down or stopping smoking so that their resolve is reinforced.

D. Questions about the knowledge among respondents of the anti-

smoking messages, their opinions of these messages and if they
are not affected how could these be made more effective.
Information about their will help us in targeting and covering
the message better.
 E. Finally, there are questions asked to the smokers who have quit
about what made them quit. The answers to these are qualitative
and will help us with an understanding of their motivations.

Data analysis-

A. The influence of friends is very strong in the decision of the

respondents to start smoking. 60% of the respondents cite this as
a factor. This is not surprising and may call for sessions in
schools/colleges with a wider group since group influence is
clearly important. However, one key insight is that influence of
parents, etc., is not important, neither is the factor that it is cool
to smoke (only 12% think so). There is a very high number of
people ticking the option „others‟, which means that there is a
need to study to this factor more to get a fuller understanding of
why people choose to start smoking.

B. In the responses to this group of questions, we get a very high

degree of awareness of the issue. 95% of the people know that
smoking is not good for health, and a very substantial number
(61%) have tried to quit smoking in the past. On the entire
population (of 100 respondents), 46% have tried to quit but
failed while 29% have not tried to quit at all. The rest 25% have
actually managed to quit smoking which is a fairly impressive
number. The reasons for failing to stick with the „quitting‟
decisions range from „pressure from friends‟, and nervousness
and stress etc. when smoking was given up.
However, a group of the sample seems to be in denial regarding
the issue. 46% of the people who currently smoke think that „It
is okay because I only smoke a few cigarettes a day‟. However,
this set includes some who smoke between 3-5 cigarettes a day.
Further, a very high number (75%) of smokers believe that it is
easy to quit smoking. Probably a campaign which attacked this
complacence would be effective in leading that group to
introspect as it may not be as easy to quit as they believe.
C. However, coming to actions that the respondents intend to take
regarding their habit, the response is quite positive (Q 12, 13).
Nearly 54% of the smokers expect to cut down on their smoking
in the next 1-2 years, while only 9% expect it to increase. The
main reasons cited are that „it might affect my health‟, with „I
would not like my family members to inhale my second hand
smoke‟ as number two (41% of respondents). (People could tick
more than one option).
This tells that a positive campaign with the health benefits of not
smoking may be beneficial. The main takeaway is that the
respondents are already planning to cut down, and we should
help them keep their resolve.

D. Coming to the message on anti-smoking, a very high number

(91%) of respondents are aware of these (Q 14) though for a
high proportion (63%) these messages have not had any impact
(Q 15). However, in balance 37% of cases they have had some
impact (including, in 8% of cases, a lot). The reasons given for
their ineffectiveness are usually that „they are exaggerations‟,
„they are boring‟ and very often „I do not notice them‟. Our job
is to make these messages noticed. One way is of doing this is to
consistently air campaigns as 61% tend to think that they will be
more effective that way (Q 17).

In terms of what could make smokers cut down smoking (Q18),

there is a revealing insight that these could be successful if they
showed real life examples of people who have given up smoking
and are now happy. This approach has not been tried in India,
and is supported by 32% of the people. An almost equal number
believe that „Campaigns should use logic, rather than being
preachy‟ (25%), and that fear works best with „pictures of
diseased lungs etc.‟ being effective (23%). We can say that there
is no single message to convey and that a carrot (positive effects
of quitting) and stick (fear factor) approach would work.
 Conclusions:
a. Nearly one-fourth of the respondents have been able to give up
smoking, mainly concerned about the effects on their health.

b. Of those who continue to smoke, nearly 60% have tried to quit

(unsuccessfully).

c. Most respondents think that they can quit when they want, an
assertion not corroborated by the number who have
unsuccessfully tried to quit.

d. However, most respondents do indeed intend to reduce their

smoking and very few expect it to increase.

e. The reasons given for intention to cut down is likely effect on

own health and that of the family.

f. One way to motivate respondents to cut down would be to show

instances of real people who have stopped smoking and its
positive impact. However appeals to logic and the fear angle are
also important.
Bibliography

http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/12/4/e4.full
http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/smoking_
deaths.htm
http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/smoking_
deaths.htm
http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccorelateddiseases/a/smoki
ngrisks.htm
 Questionnaire
Part A-
1. Do you smoke (at least once in two days)? (If not a smoker
anymore, then proceed to Q.19.)
Yes No

2. How long have you been smoking?

0-1 years 1-3 years Longer

3. Currently, how would you characterise your smoking?

Up to 2 cigarettes a day
3-5 cigarettes a day
6+ cigarettes a day

4. If you recollect, did any of the factors influence you when you
started smoking?
(Name up to any two)
Your friends in your circle smoked
Your parent/ someone elder in your family smoked
It was cool
Others

5. Do you usually smoke with

Friends/Colleagues Alone

6. Are you aware that cigarette smoking is injurious to health?

Yes No

7. Have you tried quitting smoking?

Yes No

8. If you tried and failed, what made you restart?

9. Do you think about the ill effects of smoking sometimes?

 Yes No

10. If answer to Q.9 is Yes, then how true is the statement:

“It is okay if I smoke, because I only smoke few cigarettes a
day.”
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

11. How true is the statement: “I could give up smoking if I

wanted to.”
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

12. Do you expect that over the next 1-2 years the number of
cigarettes you smoke a day will:
Increase
Remain same
Decrease

13. Over the next 5 years, what factors could make you
consider giving up smoking?
(Up to any two)
I would not like my family members to inhale my second
hand smoke
It might affect my health
It might not be socially acceptable
It might be too expensive to keep smoking
14. Are you aware of Anti- smoking campaigns that are
sometimes run ( in hoardings, movie theatres, print media, etc.)
Yes No

15. Do you think these have had any effect on your smoking?
a. Yes, a lot.
b. Yes, somewhat
c. No, not at all

16. If you have answered Q.15 as „c‟, why do you think that
they have not had any effect at all?

OR

If you have answered Q.15 as „a‟ or „b‟, what feature impacted

you in the campaign?

17. Do you think campaigns will work if they are consistently

aired or displayed ( on T.Vs, in cinemas, print media, hoarding,
etc.)
Yes No

18. What, in your view, could make you cut down smoking (
in a campaign)
Pictures of diseased lungs, etc.
The campaigns do not preach, but talk to you logically
 If they showed real life examples of people who have given
up smoking and are
now happy
Examples of other family members who are happy because
the smoker has quit

End

19. What factors made you quit?

20. Over the next 6 months, how likely are you to start
smoking again?
Not at all likely
Somewhat likely
Neither likely or unlikely
Likely
Very likely

Part B-

Name:

Age:
16-18 19-22 23-25

Gender:
Male Female

Email id:

Contact number: