The use of multimedia video and animation to empower children to change their parents' smoking behaviour: a public health campaign

Smoking of a program designed to curb smoking, especially among teenagers. The research program described here extended this focus to 7-9 year olds, with the intention of developing and testing a television-based anti-smoking campaign. Based on the Human Centred-Design model, two engenders a significant economic, social and individual burden on society. In developing countries such as Malaysia, the habit of smoking especially among young children is increasing and the tobacco industry wields significant influence over them. A range of anti-smoking education programs has been developed and implemented nationally as well as internationally. The Malaysian TakNak media campaign is one example modes of delivery, video and animated cartoon, were developed with the aim of educating young children and employing them as agents of change among their family and social networks. Experimental designs were used to test and compare the efficacy of those two modes against three measures: knowledge, attitude and behaviour/practice. The efficacy results showed considerable evidence that both the video and animated cartoon media can stimulate behavioural change, create awareness and lead to discussions about smoking among young children. However, the impact is more pronounced in the animation cartoon mode. The latter will therefore form the basis of a television campaign to be launched in Malaysia. The research also provides guidelines for the future development of television-based anti-smoking campaigns in the areas of theoretical framework, design model, character profile development, storyboard conceptualizing, technical applications, and efficacy testing.