Mass media campaigns are widely used to encourage behaviours that can help prevent cancer or support earlier diagnosis, including stopping smoking, maintaining a healthy diet, being physically active, attending screening, and seeking help for symptoms. However, evidence on how effective these campaigns are, and whether they provide good value for money, has been mixed.
This review aimed to examine the impact of mass media campaigns on eight health behaviours, as well as their cost-effectiveness. This review brought together evidence from systematic reviews published since 2000. A total of 56 reviews were included, covering tobacco use, diet, alcohol use, physical activity, sun and UV protection, HPV vaccination, cancer screening uptake, and symptomatic GP presentation.
Mass media campaigns were associated with positive effects on several cancer-related health behaviours, although the strength of evidence varied by behaviour.
The strongest evidence of effectiveness was found for improving dietary behaviours and increasing cancer screening uptake.
Evidence for tobacco-related outcomes was substantial but mixed. Some reviews found positive effects on smoking behaviours, while others found mixed or insufficient evidence.
Evidence for increasing physical activity was also mixed, with some reviews reporting positive effects and others reporting mixed or insufficient evidence.
Moderate positive evidence was identified for sun and UV-protection behaviours, particularly when campaigns formed part of broader community-based programmes.
There was limited but positive evidence that mass media campaigns can support HPV vaccination uptake.
There was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about the impact of mass media campaigns on alcohol use or symptomatic presentation to a GP.
Campaigns were generally more effective when delivered as part of wider, multi-component interventions that included other forms of support, services, environmental changes, or policy measures, rather than as stand-alone communications activities.
Evidence suggested campaigns may be more successful for infrequent, one-off behaviours such as screening attendance compared to behaviours that require ongoing maintenance, such as physical activity or dietary change.
Evidence on cost-effectiveness was limited and mixed, with the review concluding that more research is needed in this area.
This review provides a broad overview of the evidence on mass media campaigns across a range of cancer prevention, screening and early diagnosis behaviours. The findings suggest that mass media campaigns can contribute to behaviour change, but their effectiveness varies depending on the behaviour being targeted. A consistent finding across behaviours was that campaigns tended to be more successful when delivered as part of broader programmes that included additional interventions such as service provision, community-based activities, environmental changes, or policy measures. This suggests that mass media campaigns may play an important supporting role within wider public health strategies rather than acting as a standalone approach.
The review also highlighted evidence gaps, particularly around cost-effectiveness and the impact of campaigns on some cancer-related behaviours. Further research is needed to understand which campaign approaches are most effective, how they influence behaviour over the longer term, and when they provide good value for money.
Read the report in fullMaya Kamar, Kirstie Osborne and Victoria Whitelock.
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