Associations between advertising recall and quitting in a national cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers

Mass media campaigns have been shown to reduce the prevalence of smoking, where supported by comprehensive tobacco control strategies.1,2 In Australia, this comprehensive approach has seen the prevalence of smoking fall below 15% among adults.3 However, while the daily smoking prevalence is also declining among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged 15 years and over (from 49% in 2002 to 39% in 2014),4 it remains more than double that of other Australians of similar age.5 Past television advertisements from the National Tobacco Campaign appear to be well‐recognised and received among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, however, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers often express a preference for more culturally relevant messages.6 Further, locally developed social marketing has been a feature of many anti‐tobacco programs, including the Tackling Indigenous Smoking initiative.7 Evaluations of targeted and regional social marketing campaigns have reported good recall of campaign materials and messages but have been too limited in scope to explore impact on quitting.8,9