Abstract A10: Facebook advertisement effects on conversions and enrollment to a SMS/text smoking cessation service for young adult Latinos

Evidence shows that variations in the degree and type of a message9s emotional arousal, particularly disgust, can influence message impact on smokers9 interest in quitting and likelihood of seeking help. Negative emotional appeals are widely used to attract attention of Latino audiences, but positive appeals, especially those designed to increase smokers9 confidence in their ability to quit, are also recommended as a way to attract them to enroll in cessation services. Methods: We employed positive and negative variations in Facebook advertising appeals to study their effects on “conversions” and subsequent enrollment in a tobacco cessation service (a bilingual text messaging and mobile media service specifically targeting Latino young adults in South Texas). Differences in advertisement characteristics on conversion rate and enrollment were examined using exact Chi-squared tests for proportions and 95% confidence intervals for their corresponding odds ratios. Results: The negative advertisement received a higher conversion rate than the positive ad, with 1,441/130,000 (1.11%) vs. 1,249/130,000 (1.96%) clicking the ad to visit our service9s home page (OR= 1.16, 95% CI 1.07, 1.25). But subsequent texted enrollments in the cessation service were received by 76/1,249 (5.76%) of those exposed to the positive message and 55/1,441 (3.82%) of those exposed to the negative message (OR= 1.54, CI1.06, 2.25). The former were 54% more likely than the latter to become enrolled. Conclusion: Negative-appealing advertising attracted more clicks to further information, but positive appeals were more likely to lead to subsequent enrollment. Negative advertising can gain attention and spark minor actions toward behavior change, but positive advertising appealing to the consumer9s self-confidence is more likely to lead to an actual first step toward behavior change. Citation Format: Patricia Chalela, Alfred L. McAlister, Kipling J. Gallion, Edgar Munoz, Cliff Despres, David Akopian, Arely Perez, Robert Garcia, Amelie G. Ramirez. Facebook advertisement effects on conversions and enrollment to a SMS/text smoking cessation service for young adult Latinos. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eighth AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 13-16, 2015; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2016;25(3 Suppl):Abstract nr A10.