Mass Media Campaign to Reduce Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in a Rural Area of the United States.

Objectives: To evaluate a mass media campaign to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).

Methods: We disseminated messages emphasizing the health risks of SSBs through television, digital channels, and local organizations over 15 weeks in 2015-2016 in the Tri-Cities region of northeast Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and southeast Kentucky. We evaluated the campaign with pre- and post-telephone surveys of adults aged 18 to 45 years in the intervention area and by examining changes in beverage sales in the intervention and a matched comparison area in western Virginia.