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Tobacco.Reality.Unfiltered. (TRU)

Also: TRU

“Tobacco.Reality.Unfiltered.”

North Carolina youth tobacco prevention media campaign (US-NC) launched April 2004 under the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund, with ads featuring North Carolina youth telling personal stories of serious harm from tobacco, aimed at ages 11-17.

Years
2004–now
Country
United States
Budget
State funding rose from $1.1 million to $4.5 million a year in 2007.
Topic
Tobacco
Asks people to
Never start
Strategy
Fear appealTestimonial
Channel
RadioSocial (paid)TV
Audience
Youth

Evidence

ObservationalMixed

Telephone surveys of youth 11-17: awareness rose from 48% (2004) to 77% (2009); in 2009, awareness was associated with lower odds of current smoking and experimenting among at-risk youth (cross-sectional) (Kandra 2013). Awareness rose from 54% to 71% when funding quadrupled in 2007. A longitudinal telephone survey (Kandra 2007 dissertation, N=502) found 45% confirmed awareness, but latent transition analysis showed no difference in moving into smoking experimentation between aware and unaware youth.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund State local government, funder
  • North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch State local government, later administrator

Credits (who made it)

  • UNC Department of Family Medicine, Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program Research evaluation, 2004- source

Sources

  1. Kandra KL et al. The evaluation of North Carolina's state-sponsored youth tobacco prevention media campaign. Health Educ Res 2013;28(1):1-14 evaluation · 2012 · DOI 10.1093/her/cys085 · PMID 22907537
  2. UNC: Tobacco Reality Unfiltered evaluation of the NC youth tobacco prevention media campaign evaluation
  3. Kandra KL. An Evaluation of the North Carolina Tobacco.Reality.Unfiltered. Media Campaign (dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) 2007 evaluation · 2007 · DOI 10.17615/mhzx-dq33

Research notes

US-NC. The Health and Wellness Trust Fund (settlement-funded) was abolished in 2011; campaign moved to NC DHHS (verify end/continuation). Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: UNC (evaluation poster: UNC School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine authors; TV campaign launched 2004; funded at $4.4 million in 2008). Corrected 2026-10-22: evaluation years changed from 2004-2011 to 2004- because the poster shows data only through about 2008; end of the evaluation contract not confirmed. Ad library search: "Tobacco Reality Unfiltered", "NC DHHS", "QuitlineNC". Evidence updated 2026-10-22: outcome changed from positive to mixed after adding the Kandra 2007 dissertation (DOI checked on DataCite, abstract read there), whose longitudinal design found no effect on transitions to smoking, against the cross-sectional association in Kandra 2012.

Record cases/nc-tobacco-reality-unfiltered.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign