Smoke-Free Home: Developing an Aboriginal health promotion and social marketing campaign in Western Sydney, Australia

Abstract

ISSUE ADDRESSED: This brief report describes the development of a social marketing campaign, 'Aboriginal Smoke-free Home', developed in direct response to a community-identified necessity to advocate for improved messaging concerning smoke-free homes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families residing on Darug Country in the Mount Druitt and Blacktown regions of Western Sydney, NSW. The campaign's launch in early 2020 demanded considerable adaptability to address challenges arising from COVID-19 outbreaks. METHODS: In consultation and collaboration with Aboriginal community members and organisations, Western Sydney Local Health District co-developed a social marketing strategy including an animated video and static smoke-free advertisements. The strategy followed a five-phased iterative approach. Campaign engagement and reach data were collected from Facebook analytics and advertising agency reports. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic demanded flexibility in the campaign launch, prompting a shift towards a more prominent social media presence and the integration of COVID-19 messaging. RESULTS: Social media and localised multimedia approaches for campaign dissemination were undertaken from community members' input and feedback. Paid advertising has a greater potential for increasing audience reach. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the Aboriginal Smoke-free Home campaign reached an extensive audience. The study findings demonstrate the strength of working in partnership and the benefit of working in response to community-identified needs in health promotion. SO WHAT?: Limited research exists on social marketing approaches for Aboriginal health promotion programs. This study focuses on the successes and challenges in design and implementation and unveils preliminary numerical reach findings, highlighting diverse approaches. Further investigation is needed, and a campaign evaluation is in progress.