Background Mass media campaigns to encourage smoking cessation have been shown to be effective in a context of comprehensive tobacco control programme. The effectiveness of antismoking ads that evoke negative emotions remains unclear, in particular in countries with high smoking prevalence and among smokers with low perceived susceptibility, low self-efficacy or who are not users of smoking cessation services.

Objective To evaluate short-term and long-term effects of a 1-month French national highly emotional media campaign, with a focus on these specific targets.

Design A 6-month longitudinal survey by Internet. A sample of 3000 smokers were interviewed before the media campaign (T0). They were contacted again just after (T1) and 6 months after the campaign (T2).

Outcomes Perceived susceptibility to the risks of smoking, self-efficacy to quit smoking, use of smoking cessation services (quitline and website) and 7-day quitting.

Methods The analysis was carried out on 2241 individuals who answered at T1 and T2. Multiple logistic regressions were computed to test the association between the change in each outcome at T1 and T2 and the level of exposure based on self-reported recall.

Results Self-reported recall was associated with an increase in perceived susceptibility and with use of cessation services. Campaign recall was also associated with higher 7-day quitting immediately after the campaign (OR=1.8 (1.0 to 3.2), P<0.05).

Conclusions Fear-appeal mass media campaigns can be effective in encouraging cessation among smokers in a country with high smoking prevalence (France), but should be accompanied by convincing self-efficacy messages.