Mumps in the Post-Secondary Environment: Targeted Advertising in the 2007–2008 Alberta Mumps Vaccination Campaign

Abstract

Following an increased occurrence of mumps among post-secondary students in southern Alberta in 2007, Alberta Health Services (AHS) began a campaign to encourage post-secondary-aged individuals to undergo a second round of mumps vaccination. Mumps in Alberta posed a significant threat to post-secondary-aged students because of their campus environment, and the fact that a majority of these individuals received only a single dose of the two-dose scheduled Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccination as children. To encourage vaccination compliance, two gendered ads, aimed at males and females respectively, were used to target the perceived fears and consequences of contracting mumps among post-secondary-aged students.