SunSmart mass media campaigns have been consistently running in Western Australia for over 30 years. During this time, changes in media platforms and creative executions have been adopted, but may not have been able to effectively counter the increases in advertising costs and audience fragmentation.
Annual post-campaign evaluation surveys (2008-2022) were analysed to determine trends over time in awareness, relevancy, and believability of SunSmart advertisements. SunSmart campaigns were also categorised into the following themes: 1) Personal real-life stories; 2) Daily activities/sun exposure leads to skin cancer; or 3) Cartoon/animated. Socio-demographic characteristics and risk factors associated with campaign awareness were identified.
Between 2008 and 2022, total awareness, unprompted awareness, and relevancy of SunSmart advertisements had declined, while believability remained consistently high. Trends were inconsistent between awareness of campaign themes and socio-demographic characteristics and risk factors. For campaigns which reoccurred over numerous consecutive years, awareness was greater in its subsequent years, compared with its first campaign year.
The decreasing awareness of SunSmart advertisements over time was likely driven by the changing media advertising landscape and increased advertising costs. Campaign themes did not have a strong, consistent association with awareness, suggesting that analysing individual SunSmart campaigns may be more meaningful. Reoccurring campaigns can lead to greater exposure of SunSmart's health promotion messages, increasing the effectiveness of individual campaigns. Therefore best-practice, sustained funding is pertinent to increase the reach and impact of future SunSmart campaigns.