Media Advocacy and Public Education in the Community Intervention Trial to Reduce Heavy Smoking (COMMIT)

The Community Intervention Trial (COMMIT) is designed to reduce the rate of heavy smoking in eleven pairs of North American communities over an eight-year period. The intervention, consisting of a minimum of fifty-one activities, is being implemented through local community boards and task forces. This article describes the goals and activities for the public education task force with a specific focus on "media advocacy," an innovative use of mass media that follows more closely political activist models than traditional public service models. Two brief case studies are presented to illustrate some applications of media advocacy. The reasons for relatively infrequent use of media advocacy are discussed.