Tobacco misuse advertising campaigns have met with a certain level of success in the past, but the new Aboriginal ads are stronger than ever before. They are called “social marketing,” which means advertising to a people. It is about change. Changing people's awareness, attitudes, and behaviours. The emphasis is on raising a person’s ability to see that they are facing an issue, and in so doing, hopefully changing their attitude about that issue.
How can change happen?
Change is a foundation made up of little blocks. Building that foundation depends on smaller pieces. These messages are all steps on the path toward change:

“Smoking will only limit my ability to realize my dreams.”

Example: Helping young people realize that smoking isn’t just about peer pressure, or looking cool, but about limiting their chances of doing something later on in life, such as participating in sports with friends.

“I may not be able to control the situation around me, but I can control what I do to myself- like not smoking.”

This message is the building block of knowing that you can control your square foot of the universe. Remember, little kids learn control from a young age. If their capacity to control themselves and their environment is encouraged, they will be less likely to give in to pressures and temptations. We must send messages to young children, because they have the most right to dictate household conditions, and because they are the most affected. For example, the effects of second-hand smoke are most severe for kids.

“I may not want to or be able to stop smoking, but my addiction doesn’t have to harm my partner, my children or my friends.”

Deborah Schwartz

We have to ensure that advertising to a First Nations and Inuit
perspective is innovative and involves the whole community. It must address the specific issues, and present a federal face. This last point is a challenge, because there is such a rich diversity of First Nations and Inuit cultures. Consensus and input will therefore be a crucial part of the brainstorming process.

We asked Deborah Schwartz, British Columbia’s Aboriginal Tobacco Strategy coordinator, about the unique approach that has to be taken when campaigning in Aboriginal communities.

Liane Balaban: In your experience, what kind of anti-smoking campaigns do not work for Aboriginal people? Why do you think this is so?

Deborah Schwartz: What doesn’t work for First Nations people is viewing quitting smoking as an individual challenge in isolation from the family and community. Taking any kind of moral crusade against smoking also does not work. That kind of righteous, “We know, you don’t” attitude is offensive to First Nations communities. That’s because the whole notion of “expert” is a bit of an anomaly. We do see people as being wise and having gifts, but we recognize that everyone has their own life and own journey. In the best situation, my job is to help people connect with their own wisdom and their own path. The person will have his or her own unique way of quitting.

So the role of the health care provider or “helper” is very different in Aboriginal cultures?
The idea of the helper as having a lot of humility, rather than acting like a know-it-all [is central]. A lot of health promotion can be quite aggressive. We try not to be aggressive in our approaches.

So what are some things to keep in mind when creating an Aboriginal anti-smoking campaign?
Instead of focusing on how smoking hurts the person, we focus on how not smoking will honor that person; make their health and life better. Also, our conceptual framework for life and for learning is a circle. It’s not a graph, not a cube, and it’s not linear. The reason for that is that all First Nations cosmology is based on the natural world. The sun, Earth, and moon are circles. The circle is also very holistic. For example, we wouldn’t even see individual smokers’ journey to quit smoking as something that had a beginning, middle and end. It would be hard to talk about it that way.

THE CAMPAIGN:

The anti-smoking campaign will involve print, radio and television advertisements. All materials will be available in English, French and Inuktitut. None of the Aboriginal-focused advertisements were dubbed. They incorporated real Inuit and First Nations actors and voice-over artists.

The television commercials focus on the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. They are told from the perspective of people who don’t smoke, but are harmed by the smoking of someone they’re close to. For example, a small child says: “My throat hurts when daddy smokes.” The commercials ends with the message “Think twice about lighting up around those you care about. That’s the good you can do.”

Another commercial puts the warning labels on cigarette packs in places you would least expect them, such as the stomach of a pregnant woman, or the forehead of a child.

The radio advertisements also ask the listener to imagine seeing a cigarette pack warning in an unlikely spot. There are also radio spots which feature actual doctors and nurses talking about the harmful effects of smoking around others.

The overall aim of the advertisements is to present people with a familiar situation and get them thinking about their behaviour, and to not point fingers of blame at smokers.