As many as 8 in 10 adult smokers light up their first cigarettes in their teens. And teenagers who smoke are 16 times more likely to continue the habit as adults. These alarming numbers are why youths are a priority for the Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) smoking-control initiatives.
HOL created a strategy based on audience research and adolescent psychology and helped HPB develop an experience that nudged secondary school students towards smoke-free lives.
Conventional anti-smoking messages were often moralistic and emphasised smoking as an unhealthy habit. Images of disease and bad health would reinforce these messages to drive fear into the target audience. Would these messages work on youths? What would persuade teenagers not to smoke if scare tactics wouldn’t work?
Our research on adolescent psychology and interviews with teenagers revealed the unique ways they thought and felt. As part of their journey towards adulthood, teenagers assert their independence. They want autonomy to make decisions and take actions out of their own free will. And they will challenge the rules authority figures set if they feel their freedom of choice is under threat.
Conversely, they are more likely to own their actions when they have autonomy. And yet, although teenagers want to live on their own terms, they tend to be influenced by peer influence.
A top-down, one-way approach would royally backfire. Our strategy was to respect teenagers’ desire for autonomy, empower them with accurate information and different perspectives, and guide them in reaching decisions they could own and stand by.
Harnessing positive peer influence
There’s bad peer pressure – and good peer influence. Instead of bringing in adult authority figures as the experts, we interviewed current and former teenage smokers who shared personal stories that our target audience could identify with. You’d expect us to tell them the harms of smoking only – but no, we didn’t. We gave the students both sides of the story and encouraged them to think through the pros and cons of smoking.
Helping teenagers think for themselves
We provided teachers with a clear narrative they could weave into their lessons. Teachers could use it to prompt their students to think critically about what they saw and heard and engage them in open, judgement-free discussions about the implications of smoking.
Our strategy gained teenagers’ trust as it respected their ability to do the right thing if they had the information they needed to reach their own conclusions. HPB rolled out the experience to more than 130 secondary schools over 2 years, engaging more than 20,000 students and setting them on course towards a tobacco-free future.
“The development of an easy-to-use resource that will captivate teenagers’ attention on a topic that’s widely talked about is not an easy task to undertake. However, HOL understood from the very onset what was required and suggested great and viable edits to the resource. It was a great pleasure working with HOL, and we look forward to more opportunities to work together.”
Ms Vasuki Utravathy
Deputy Director
Health Promotion Board
