(This resource corresponds to Module 4.)

Adapted from Success Stories: Florida "Truth" Campaign on the Social Marketing Institute Web site at www.social-marketing.org/success/cs-floridatruth.html.

In 1997, the state of Florida won a landmark victory against the tobacco industry, worth $11.3 billion. The settlement included a clause providing an earmarked budget of $200 million for a state-run pilot program to fight youth tobacco use. The resulting Florida Tobacco Pilot Program (FTPP), better known by its marketing component, "truth," has proven to be a highly effective prevention initiative. Using a variety of social marketing strategies, the "truth" campaign successfully repositioned tobacco control as a hip, rebellious youth movement with the message that tobacco is an addictive drug marketed by a callous adult establishment.

Getting Started
FTPP members approached their anti-tobacco campaign with the knowledge that in order to reach teens, they would ultimately have to drive a wedge between the tobacco industry's advertising and its target audience. The program's managers initiated this strategy by assembling a team of advertising and public relations firms to develop the marketing portion of the campaign and by going directly to Florida's youth themselves and listening to their attitudes and opinions. After a short time, the program emerged with the concept of a youth movement against Big Tobacco promoted through grassroots advocacy and a creative, youth-driven advertising campaign.

Make Anti-Smoking Advocacy Cool
At the Teen Tobacco Summit in March of 1998, the teen delegates, invigorated by what they had learned about the tobacco industry's false statements and manipulation, voted to change the campaign's theme to "Truth, A Generation United Against Tobacco." The new "truth" campaign also included the formation of a youth anti-tobacco advocacy group called SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco).

Target Credibility Through Teen Action
The FTPP and its marketing team established a plan to give the "truth" campaign message maximum reach and visibility through a wide range of multimedia ads, teen events, merchandising, and media outreach. The marketing plan also included using teen input in every phase of the development to add style and legitimacy and to empower the teen movement. With these efforts, they hoped to make "truth" into a credible brand name easily recognized by the campaign's target audience.

Support "Truth" Coolness
Putting equal emphasis on its advocacy campaign, the marketing team also designed "truth"-branded merchandise, such as T-shirts and baseball caps, and distributed the merchandise via an official campaign van at teen functions throughout the state. Other grassroots promotional efforts included "truth"-sponsored teen events and development of an FTPP Web site, containing facts and statistics on tobacco, SWAT information, and online advocacy activities.

Events Pump Up the Program
In August 1998 the FTPP launched the Reel "truth," a program designed to expose how the tobacco industry has permeated popular culture to manipulate society's attitude toward smoking and to empower teens to combat it. The program included a number of conferences and seminars and ran in conjunction with the "truth" tour, which featured a 13-city train ride and concert series. Carried out by the marketing team through members of SWAT, the Reel "truth," with the help of celebrities and politicians, encouraged advocacy participation and petitioned the entertainment industry to portray smoking more accurately and de-normalize its use.

Results
The “truth” campaign has been a dramatic success. It is now the model for the Legacy Foundation's national anti-smoking campaign. In just two years, from 1998 to 2000, the percentage of Florida middle-schoolers who smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days fell from 18.5 to 8.6 percent, while the percentage for high-schoolers went from 27.4 to 20.9 percent.