KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
Despite a challenging and complex context in which to impact societal change, the Five-Year Campaign achieved several important milestones.
The campaign had a significant impact on residents specifically targeted with the campaign messages.
- Neat Neighbors found the campaign messages more meaningful, thought-provoking, enlightening and motivating than did other segments.
- Fix It Foul-Ups are more likely to remember that the campaign mentioned fertilizers as a harmful pollutant.
- Fix It Foul-Ups are also more inclined to change their behavior now than they were five years ago, indicating that the campaign had a significant impact on this group’s beliefs and intentions.
There is strong evidence of changes in behavior related to storm water pollution prevention. Specific behavior changes include:
- Neat Neighbors dropping fewer cigarette butts on the ground.
- Fix It Foul-Ups littering less, dropping fewer cigarette butts on the ground and emptying car ashtrays into the street less often.
- Rubbish Rebels throwing things in the storm drains less often, not dumping their ashtrays in the street as often and picking up after their dogs when they walk them.
- Rubbish Rebels account for the biggest change in direct assaults on storm drains by eliminating nearly 100,000 occurrences each month.
The campaign also increased public concern about water pollution.
- Relative to the baseline period, concern about water pollution increased significantly and stayed high while concern about other social issues such as crime, traffic congestion and public-school quality fluctuated in terms of their level of importance.