In 2009 WLF provided technical and financial support towards the development of a national mass media campaign to educate about tobacco’s health harms, and in support of comprehensive tobacco control legislation in Vietnam.

A message-testing study of 10 international and local ads informed the selection of two ads for the campaign, which were adapted into the northern and southern Vietnamese accents for airing across the country.

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Cigarettes Are Eating You Alive

The “Cigarettes Are Eating You Alive” campaign, sponsored by the Ministry of Health, launched on December 19, 2009 with a press event in Hanoi. Thirty-five journalists and five TV crews attended the event, which generated nearly 90 tobacco control stories in the national print, TV and online media in the weeks following. The ads aired for five weeks on national and regional TV channels, and supporting posters were distributed in select cities and provinces.

Working with MOH and partners, WLF organized a press event in May 2010 to present the results to the public and the press. The event resulted in more than 90 stories in print, online and TV media about tobacco and Vietnam’s smoke-free policy.

A post-campaign evaluation was completed before Tet in mid-February 2010

• 70% of smokers and 70% of non- and former smokers recalled seeing at least one of the ads
• More than three-quarters of smokers who saw the campaign said the ads made them more likely to quit (77%) and to stop exposing others to their smoke (80%); and
• Nearly nine out of ten non- and former smokers who saw the campaign said the ads made them more likely to complain about being exposed to cigarette smoke (Alive 87%; Baby Alive 86%).

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