Research conducted in Montana has shown that young adults greatlymisperceive the prevalence of impaired driving. In an effort to addressthe misperception that impaired driving among young adults is more common than it really is, the Montana Social Norms Project (MSNP) created the MOST of Us Campaign. The campaign strives to reshape theoverall social context in which impaired driving is perceived and in which impaired driving occurs. The overall goal of the campaign is to reduce alcohol-related crashes among 18-to-34-year-olds in Montana.
The MSNP and the MOST of Us Campaign are based at Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman. The campaign continues to pioneer new prevention approaches and is the first in the country to utilize social norms marketing on a statewide level. MSNP spreads positive messages emphasizing the reality that the majority of Montana young adults prevent drinking and driving. Specifically, this project seeks to
* determine the amount of media necessary to ensure exposure to the
message,
* correct the misperceptions among 18- to 34-year-old Montanans about
the high-risk DUI behaviors of their peers, and
* reduce the incidence of alcohol-related crashes.
This year’s 2002 media campaign consisted of television and radio commercials, theater slides, newspaper ads, and approximately 75,000 print and promotional items.
This campaign started in 1998 with a grant from the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and has continued with additional funding from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). To date, the
campaign has had positive results. For example, an analysis of combined data sets of the 1998 and 2000 Montana Young Adult Phone Surveys revealed that the young adults who recognized the MOST of Us Campaign
message had a lower self-reported incidence of driving while impaired during the previous month (15.5%). This figure positively compares to those young adults who did not recall any DUI prevention messages (25.2%) or those who only recalled other campaigns (28.9%). MSNP is awaiting the completion of the current year’s media campaign to determine if additional positive results have occurred.