Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program media campaign
Also: MTCP · Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program
Massachusetts statewide anti-smoking program (US-MA) funded by a 25-cent cigarette tax approved by voters in 1992 (Question 1). Its mass-media campaign started in 1993 on TV, radio, newspapers and billboards and was among the best-funded per capita in the world in the 1990s.
- Years
- 1993–now
- Country
- United States
- Budget
- About $13 million a year on anti-tobacco advertising on average; up to $43 million available in 1995 (as reported in secondary summaries).
- Topic
- Tobacco
- Asks people to
- Never startStop
- Strategy
- Fear appealIndustry denormalizationPolicy pairedTestimonial
- Channel
- OutdoorPrintRadioSocial (paid)TV
- Audience
- AdultsGeneral publicYouth
Evidence
Quasi-experimentalPositive
Against comparison states (excluding California), Massachusetts per capita consumption fell more than 4% a year from 1993 while comparison states fell under 1%; adult prevalence declined 0.43 points a year vs a 0.03 rise (P<0.001) (Biener 2000). In a 4-year cohort of 592 youths, 12-13-year-olds exposed to the TV ads were about half as likely to progress to established smoking (OR 0.49) (Siegel & Biener 2000).
Sponsor (who paid)
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Tobacco Control Program State local government, funder and creator
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Executions (individual ads)
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health ad, Apr 4, 2025 2025 · social-paid · meta-ad-library · 800K - 900K impressions · spend $1K - $1.5K
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health ad, Mar 25, 2025 2025 · social-paid · meta-ad-library
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health ad, May 19, 2025 2025 · social-paid · meta-ad-library
Related campaigns
- California Tobacco Control Program media campaign 1990–now
- The 84 2005–now
Sources
- Biener L, Harris JE, Hamilton W. Impact of the Massachusetts tobacco control programme: population based trend analysis. BMJ 2000;321(7257):351-4 evaluation · 2000 · DOI 10.1136/bmj.321.7257.351 · PMID 10926595
- Siegel M, Biener L. The impact of an antismoking media campaign on progression to established smoking: results of a longitudinal youth study. Am J Public Health 2000;90(3):380-6 evaluation · 2000 · DOI 10.2105/ajph.90.3.380 · PMID 10705855
- Tobacco Control 2000;9(4):401: telephone survey of Massachusetts adults in 1993 and 1996 on exposure to the anti-tobacco campaign evaluation · 2000
- Rigotti NA et al. Tobacco use by Massachusetts public college students: long term effect of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program. Tob Control 2002 evaluation · 2002 · DOI 10.1136/tc.11.suppl_2.ii20 · PMID 12034976
- Biener L, McCallum-Keeler G, Nyman AL. Adults' response to Massachusetts anti-tobacco television advertisements: impact of viewer and advertisement characteristics. Tob Control 2000;9(4):401-7 evaluation · 2000 · DOI 10.1136/tc.9.4.401 · PMID 11106710
- DeJong W, Hoffman KD. A content analysis of television advertising for the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program media campaign, 1993-1996. J Public Health Manag Pract 2000;6(3):27-39 evaluation · 2000 · DOI 10.1097/00124784-200006030-00006 · PMID 10848480
Research notes
US-MA. Testimonial ads (e.g. Pam Laffin, Ronaldo Martinez throat-cancer ads, the latter reused by NYC in 2006) are associated with this program; agency credits (Arnold Communications is often named) not verified here. Ad library search: "Massachusetts Department of Public Health", "Mass Department of Public Health", "Make Smoking History". Evaluation sources added 2026-10-22 (citation snowballing / helpline pass): Rigotti 2002; evidence level and outcome unchanged.
Record cases/ma-tobacco-control-program.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign