• June 17th, 2013

Rural teens have some of the highest tobacco use rates for both cigarettes and smokeless products. Past tobacco prevention efforts have appealed mostly to urban and suburban teens because rural teens are different. Their culture, values, and lifestyle are truly distinct and reaching these teens requires an authentic voice and message.

Meet Down and Dirty, Rescue Agency’s newest teen tobacco prevention campaign:

Working with the Vermont Department of Health, Rescue Agency conducted formative research with rural teens throughout the state to understand their unique perspectives on life and tobacco use.

We discovered that not all rural teens are alike.

Surprisingly, many rural teens aligned with the attitudes and lifestyles of urban teens. However, we discovered that Country teens, a specific peer crowd among rural teens, were at high risk of tobacco use and lived their own unique lifestyle.

It was the Country peer crowd of teens specifically, not rural teens in general that was not successfully reached by today’s tobacco prevention efforts.

With insights from the research, the Rescue Agency team created Down and Dirty, one of the first large-scale media efforts to exclusively target teens that identify with the Country lifestyle. The campaign launched in Vermont this past April.

After successful testing in Virginia, the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth decided to adopt the campaign as well, making Down and Dirty a multi-state campaign. Today, Down and Dirty’s inaugural campaign continues, with at least two more media campaigns planned next fiscal year. Stay tuned to the latest on Down and Dirty online:

Vermont: fb.com/downanddirtylife
Virginia: fb.com/downanddirtyva
Web: DownandDirtyLife.com

To learn more, contact: