Does Exposure to the Campaign Increase Parental Intentions to Promote More Water and Less Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption?

Purpose: To assess if exposure to the Choose Water public health media campaign increased parents' intentions to promote healthier beverage consumption in their household.

Design: A cross-sectional evaluation administered post-campaign.

Setting: A 2017 internet panel survey in Los Angeles County, California.

Participants: The survey included 499 parents of young children.

Intervention: The Choose Water media campaign included digital media and out-of-home advertisements (eg, transit shelters, interiors of buses) in both English and Spanish.

Measures: Dichotomous outcome variables were parental intentions to give child(ren) (1) more water and (2) less sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in their households. The independent variable was campaign exposure, categorized as no exposure, exposed but did not discuss visual, and exposed and discussed visual with someone.

Analysis: Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariable logistic regressions.

Results: Among those who were exposed and discussed a campaign visual, the adjusted odds of intending to promote water consumption were 2.82 times greater than for those who reported no exposure (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.46-5.46). Similar odds to promote less sugar-sweetened beverage consumption were observed for those who were exposed and discussed a campaign visual (adjusted odds ratio: 3.27, 95% CI: 1.76-6.08). Those with the lowest educational attainment discussed the visual(s) less (10.5%).

Conclusion: Word of mouth may enhance health messaging by allowing time for intended audiences to process campaign content within their interpersonal network.