Former NYC Health Commissioner Pens Viewpoint on Media’s Role in Altering Consumer Behaviors

Former New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, who now
leads The Public Good Projects, has authored a viewpoint in JAMA
Internal Medicine that encourages the use of mass media advertising to
promote healthy behaviors. Titled “Mass Diseases, Mass Exposures, and
Mass Media,” the article highlights the success of mass media campaigns
aimed at smoking cessation, noting that some of these advertisements
were more valuable and cost-effective than routine one-on-one counseling,
and calls for further research into the dose-response curve for
advertising. As Farley explains, “[S]tudies suggest that smoking cessation
or smoking prevalence rates can be changed populationwide by television
ads shown at a dose of approximately 10,000 Gross Ratings Points
(GRPs) per year,” meaning that “the average person is exposed to 100
ads.”

The editorial also suggests that similar large-scale campaigns can be used
to effectively counter sugar-sweetened beverage marketing. “Mass media
messages, seen repeatedly by high percentages of entire populations,
have a potentially greater benefit over the long term by shifting general
attitudes,” concludes Farley, who argues that hospital systems, health
insurers and government agencies have the budget to wage mass media
campaigns. “When everyone in a population sees persuasive messages
about the risks of smoking, they are more likely to support organizational
and government policy changes such as smoke-free air rules or cigarette
taxes. Such policy changes can alter the social norms of behavior, helping
even those people not directly touched by media messages.”

Issue 579