'The Hanky' Multicultural Campaign Toolkit

On Monday 7 October, Quit launched the Victoria-wide campaign ‘The Hanky'

‘The Hanky’ is a campaign designed for Arabic-speaking, Mandarin-speaking and Vietnamese-speaking communities. It raises awareness of the harms of smoking. 'The Hanky' focuses on lung damage and demonstrates the links between short-term signs and long-term impacts caused by smoking. The campaign has been developed by Quit in collaboration with a multicultural specialist agency. It will run across television, radio, internet and print.

Share the campaign assets on your channels during the campaign period – October 7 to November 16 2024 – and help us reduce smoking rates and save lives.

*Please remember the campaign toolkit is available pre-launch to help you prepare your communications and activities to start from 7 October 2024. The campaign assets are embargoed and cannot be used before this date

'The Hanky'

The creative is centred around a Rorschach Handkerchief (i.e. blood blots on a handkerchief that change shapes) and focusses on the short- and long-term impacts that smoking can have, to motivate the audience to quit. The script focuses on how the toxic particles from cigarette smoke can cause damage like respiratory illnesses including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and lung cancer.

'The Hanky' is available in three languages: English with Arabic subtitles, Mandarin with Simplified Chinese subtitles, Vietnamese with Vietnamese subtitles.

Key messages

• Every cigarette is doing you damage. Smoking damages your lungs which can lead to emphysema, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer. Even smoking once a day can seriously harm your health.

• Quit is a trusted source of information for people who smoke or vape and has tools to help you quit. Information is available in Arabic, Simplified Chinese and Vietnamese.

• Quitline counsellors are here to help you quit smoking or vaping and can speak with you in your language via an interpreter. Call and leave a message, and a Quitline counsellor will ring you back together with an interpreter:

  • For Arabic call 03 8583 2905

  • For Mandarin call 03 8583 2903

  • For Vietnamese call 03 8583 2906

  • You can also start a chat with Quitline in your language using webchat at quit.org.au, or via WhatsApp+61 385 832 920, Facebook Messenger @quitvic or SMS 0482 090 634.

Target audiences

The Hanky campaign has been designed for Arabic-speaking, Mandarin-speaking and Vietnamese-speaking communities. These communities have much higher smoking rates than the average Victorian population. Among females, Arabic-speaking females emerge as having a high prevalence of current smoking, with a high estimated number of people who smoke.

• Arabic-speaking men and women (25-60 years old) who smoke

• Mandarin-speaking men (25-60 years old) who smoke

• Vietnamese-speaking men (25-60 years old) who smoke.

A. Data source: Victorian Population Health Survey 2020, Victorian Department of Health.

B. Data source: Census 2021, Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Campaign assets

During the campaign period – October 7 to November 16 2024 – promote and amplify the campaign among your communities by sharing the campaign assets across your channels, displaying posters in community settings and even hosting smokefree community events. In-language assets include:

• Campaign videos

• Social media assets

• Posters

• Sample website/newsletter copy.

All in-language assets and English translations can be accessed by downloading the PDF via the button below.

These assets are also available in PowerPoint format (.pptx) and may work more seamlessly if you are copying and pasting in-language text.

Campaign evaluation: feedback form

This feedback form is to support Cancer Council Victoria's Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer in the evaluation of the multicultural campaign “The Hanky”. Please use this form in the two weeks AFTER the campaign period (17 November – 1 December 2024). The form will ask you about the following measures so please observe and capture these across the campaign’s life to help your feedback. The form will take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.

• The number of people you reached with information about the campaign, by each place and activity you used to share campaign messages and/or materials. For example:

  • Facebook (no. of Chinese Mandarin, Arabic, and/or Vietnamese, other)

  • Newsletter (no. of Chinese Mandarin, Arabic, and/or Vietnamese, other)

  • WeChat (no. of Chinese Mandarin, Arabic, and/or Vietnamese, other)

  • In-person with community groups (no. of Chinese Mandarin, Arabic, and/or Vietnamese, other)

  • Posters displayed (no. of Chinese Mandarin, Arabic and/or Vietnamese) and locations (e.g. local food outlets, existing community meeting places, playgroups, libraries, workplaces)

  • Broader activities e.g. shared with community and faith leaders, local health services, hosted smokefree community event (no. of Chinese Mandarin, Arabic, & Vietnamese, other)

• Reflections about which activities worked best and why.

• Reflections about which activities did not work best and how they could be improved for next time.