Evaluating Quit Campaign: A Case Study of Australia and Singapore

This case study analyzes the effectiveness of the Quit Campaign in Australia and Singapore, focusing on the impact of anti-smoking advertisements on young smokers. It employs exploratory and conclusive research methods, including focus groups and longitudinal studies, to evaluate the campaign's success. The study highlights cultural differences in attitudes towards smoking and anti-smoking campaigns between the two countries, noting Singapore's reluctance to express views compared to Australia's openness. The research identifies issues such as the 'boomerang effect' in Singapore, where anti-smoking ads sometimes encourage smoking, and the unreliability of participant responses over time. The case study concludes with recommendations to encourage youth to quit smoking, including promoting healthy lifestyles, critical observation of tobacco ads, and creating tobacco-free campuses, emphasizing the importance of societal involvement, counseling, and government policies to combat smoking.

Running head: Strategic Research In International Markets
Running head: Strategic Research In International Markets

Strategic Research In International Markets 1
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
What type of market research do you think is appropriate in order to develop and evaluate the Quit
Campaign in Australia?...............................................................................................................................3
Problems of the Quit Campaign...............................................................................................................3
Exploratory Research and Conclusive Research......................................................................................3
Focus Group............................................................................................................................................4
Longitudinal Studies................................................................................................................................4
What differences, if any, in market research do you think would occur between market research in
Singapore and Australia in this case?..........................................................................................................4
Set of Recommendations to Manage the Issues.............................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Tobacco remains a main cause for the death and disability in Australia. It has been estimated that
around 19000 people were killed in 2011 due to smoking. The use of tobacco remains the single
largest reason for lung cancer. According to a research, it was found that in the year 2014, 1.4%
of the males and 0.9% females of the age group 12-17 years smoked regularly. The average age
of tobacco use was 16.2 years amongst the adolescents in Australia. Around 16586 school
children in Australia have progressed from experimental to established smoking behaviors in the
year 2014.
In order to reduce this, the government of Australia along with state and territory governments
has formulated the National Tobacco Strategy 2012-2018 under Quit Smoking Campaign.
Simultaneously, in Singapore, the problems of underage smoking have worsened and as a result,
some of the schools have formulated some strategies so that they can trace those offenders. In
the year 2014, around 6200 smokers were below the age of 18 years and some of them belonged
to primary school. Most of the children of the age group of 15-17 years were caught smoking and
it has been found that there is a rise in the number because of enforcement of stricter laws in
Singapore (Shan & Lee, 2015).
As per Health Promotion Board (2014) the health promotion board of Singapore has announced
that it will reduce the adult smoking in the country by 12% till 2020 under its Tobacco Control
Strategy. Under this approach, certain tobacco reduction programs have been introduced
amongst the children and youth and the infrastructure have been strengthened to provide more
support and to improve accessibility for the smokers to the smoking cessation programs so that
they can be motivated to quit smoking.
So, in this article, the issue would be analyzed and resolved with the help of answering certain
questions and adopting certain market research methodologies for resolving the same.

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What type of market research do you think is appropriate in order to develop and evaluate
the Quit Campaign in Australia?
Problems of the Quit Campaign
As per Commonwealth of Australia (2013) it has been noted that some of the population groups
have high smoking rates as compared to the general population. It comprises of people who are
not employed, who are being confronted by mental issues, who are in prison, are addicted to
smoking, sole parents and the homeless people.
It has also been stated that the current surveys and monitoring techniques are not appropriately
surveying the smoking rates amongst the disadvantaged populations in Australia and the trend
data is not continuously collected for the concerned groups. According to the key findings, the
impact of advertising of anti-tobacco campaigns on smoking rates occur quickly but it declines
rapidly due to the absence of continued high levels of exposure.
The main research question of the Quit Campaign is whether young smokers quit the habit by
viewing the advertisements or do anti-smoking campaign advertisements motivate the young
smokers to quit smoking?
The research methods used in this regard are as follows:
Exploratory Research and Conclusive Research
So, in order to analyze the impact of anti-smoke advertisements on the young smokers, an
exploratory research was conducted using a small sample size. It would be accompanied by
Conclusive Research which would enhance the reliability of the obtained results.
For conducting the research, a group of 50 people was researched upon . Researches show that
about 0.3 to 0.6% point acceleration would be accomplished in the decline of smoking if the
youth is exposed to antismoking ads to be shown on an average of 4 to 8 times per month .

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Focus Group
The focus groups would be beneficial because the informal direct discussions with people can
assist in obtaining qualitative and quantitative information. The research was conducted amongst
50 young smokers aged around 18 years belonging to large metropolitan cities of Australia. Prior
to conducting the interviews, a brief survey with questions about the demographics, smoking
history and their inclination towards anti-smoking ads would be completed by the participants.
The interview questions were about their observation towards the ant smoking ads and
campaigns and have they ever tried to quit smoking after viewing these ads? What are their
views towards their fellow mates who are trying to quit smoking by viewing these ads? Do they
need any further counseling by doctors or psychologists?
Longitudinal Studies
Longitudinal studies would help in observing people repeatedly to observe the effects of anti-
smoking campaigns. Though they require a longer period of time to obtain the results but they
contribute towards the accuracy and success to accomplish its objectives.
It was observed that around 25 of them were pursuing their higher education while 5 of them
were school pass outs while 5 of them had no formal education and 10 of them had studied up to
secondary school. The rest 5 were pursuing their post-secondary qualification. Furthermore, 50
ads were selected for inclusion in the study.
For analyzing the results, the original data was collected and aggregated up to the advert level.
The responses of all the participants who viewed and rated a particular ad were averaged for the
particular ad.
What differences, if any, in market research do you think would occur between market
research in Singapore and Australia in this case?
There are various differences between the market research in Singapore and Australia. With
regards to culture and values of both the countries , there are various differences as Singapore
being a part of the Asian continent, its population was reluctant and unwilling to express their
view points about the issue whereas Australia being a western country , its population is more

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expressive and willing to share its opinion freely. These cultural differences denote that the
market research would be done in different manners according to the lifestyle and values of both
the countries (Shahwan et al., 2016).
It was observed that youth reacted in reluctance against the anti-smoking ads. Several
participants expressed their desire to smoke after viewing the ads and it was termed as the
‘boomerang effect ‘.Some of them stated the ads as propaganda of the government .They were
quite skeptical about the agencies and NGOs whose ads were displayed. Their opinion towards
the pictorial representations of the ads was that they were not smoking enough to be affected by
these kind of diseases while the people of Australia reacted just opposite to it. When they were
shown the ads, they responded that smoking was horrible and disgusting.
It made them throw the cigarettes immediately. Some of them found the ads as confronting and
scaring .They made the participants emotional. Some of them even found the ads as funny and
silly while the rest of them were not affected about the ads (Stewart et al., 2011).
There is a difference in the definition of youth in both the countries. In Australia, youth has been
defined as people who belong to the age group of 12-24 years (Australia, 2014). In Singapore,
the youth belongs to the age group of 14-35 years (Singapore, 2014).
As per Wakefield et al. (2014) the reactions to the people involved in research in the Australian
context are they are unreliable and inappropriate to some extents and it affects the data collected
in this regard. As it was seen that the beliefs and behaviors of the participant changed after a
certain period of time and they fluctuated as per season. Moreover, it was seen that due to
increasing health warnings by the anti-smoking campaigns, there was some improvements in the
reactions of the participants.
According to the opinion of Amul & Pang (2017) Singapore being a country of Asian
Continent , the population is courteous and responds to the questions of the research in an
honest way thereby contributing to the accuracy of data and results .

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Set of Recommendations to Manage the Issues
There are some of the recommendations to be given to encourage the youth to quit smoking.
Youth should be encouraged to live a healthy lifestyle because prevention is better than cure.
They should be encouraged to observe critically the tobacco ads in the stores. They should be
made aware that the tobacco industry is merely targeting them by advertising its flavored
products so that they can be attracted towards the cigarettes (Pierce, White & Emery, 2012).
Another way to promote anti-smoking strategies is to create healthier campuses which are
tobacco free. The youth who is prone to tobacco should be selected to be tobacco free college
ambassadors so that they are motivated to quit smoking. They can further share their experiences
with their batch mates so that the latter can also be encouraged to quit smoking (Frieden, 2013).
Conclusion
Hence to conclude, it can be said that society plays a great role in preventing the evil of tobacco
amongst the youth. In this regard, proper counseling of the youth should be done by qualified
doctors and psychologists so that they are encouraged to quit smoking. The joint collaboration of
all the stakeholders in this regard shall be encouraged to prevent this evil from the society.
Policies should also be adopted by the government to protect people from second hand smoking.

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References
Amul, G.G.H. & Pang, T.(2017). Progress in Tobacco Control in Singapore: Lessons and
Challenges in the Implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies,5(1),102-121.
Australia (2014). Definition of Youth. Retrieved June 28th, 2018 from
http://www.youthpolicy.org/factsheets/country/australia/
Commonwealth of Australia (2013).Smoking and Disadvantage. Retrieved June 28th, 2018 from
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/smoking-
disadvantage-evidence-brief/$FILE/Screen%20res-Smoking&Disad_ev%20brief.pdf/
Frieden, T. R. (2013). Government's role in protecting health and safety. New England Journal
of Medicine, 368(20), 1857-1859.
Health Promotion Board(2014). Health Promotion Board Unveils Two-Pronged Strategy to Step
Up Tobacco Control Efforts on World No Tobacco Day. Retrieved June 28th, 2018 from
https://www.hpb.gov.sg/article/health-promotion-board-unveils-two-pronged-strategy-to-
step-up-tobacco-control-efforts-on-world-no-tobacco-day
Nonnemaker, J.M., Farrelly, M.C., Kamyab, K. & Monegle, A.J.M.(2013). Do different styles of
antismoking ads influence the types of smokers who call quitlines? Health Education
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Pierce, J. P., White, V. M. & Emery, S. L. (2012). What public health strategies are needed to
reduce smoking initiation?Tobacco control, 21(2), 258-264.
Shahwan, S., Fauziana, R., Satghare, P., Vaingankar, J., Picco, L., Chong,S.A. & Subramaniam,
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Shan , H.P. & Lee, P. (2015 ). More students caught smoking; schools install detection devices.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/more-students-caught-smoking-schools-
install-detection-devices
Singapore(2014). Definition of Youth. Retrieved June 28th, 2018 from
http://www.youthpolicy.org/factsheets/country/singapore/
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S. E., Warne, C. D., & Wakefield, M. A. (2011). Potential effectiveness of specific anti-
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