A statewide high school marketing contest led by Utah State University is working to improve Utah's air quality by teaching students to create public service announcements regarding local pollution. The initiative, which targets teens learning to drive, aims to reduce personal environmental impacts through educational outreach and social marketing techniques.
Educational Goals and Methods
The contest is being led by Professors Edwin Stafford from the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at USU and Roslynn Brain McCann from USU Extension Sustainability. According to Utah State University Extension, the program's goals are to inform high school students about local air pollution and the environmental problems associated with their new driving privileges. The program teaches students to adopt behaviors that lessen their personal impact, such as carpooling, trip-chaining, walking, biking, or taking the bus, and refraining from idling.
Beyond individual behavior changes, the contest tasks students with creating educational public service announcements. These messages are designed to resonate with peers and local residents by using social marketing communication techniques. These techniques include the use of humor, parody, rational appeals, emotional appeals, and calls-to-action to create memorable and effective messages.
Competition Structure and Participation
The contest has seen significant student participation, with 1,500 students involved during the 2024-2025 year. The program integrates environmental science, art, and marketing to teach students how to craft persuasive messages. Many winning entries from previous years have been noted for being provocative, edgy, or funny, often relating to teen pop culture and values.
Winners are selected through a multi-tiered process. Each individual high school selects its own winners by mid-January and awards them $50 gift cards. The top public service announcements from these schools then enter a statewide competition where they are evaluated by a panel of prominent judges. State winners, who are eligible for cash awards of $100 or more, are announced every February at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at USU in Logan.
Regional Expansion and Funding
The program's reach has expanded since its initial launch in Cache Valley in 2015. The contest currently includes students from Cache, Carbon, Grand, Salt Lake, and San Juan counties in Utah, as well as Franklin County in Idaho. Utah State University Extension has indicated that future plans for the contest involve expanding it to additional counties across the state.
Funding and prizes for the contest are provided by various contributors. Local businesses, the City of Logan, non-profit organizations, and concerned citizens have donated prizes. For the year 2025, over $6,000 in merchandise, gift cards, and cash was donated and distributed to students designing winning public service announcements at both the high school and state levels.
Impact on Youth and Families
Research into the contest's impact shows that the program influences how teenagers perceive their role in environmental preservation. Self-reported measures from participating teens indicate that they feel empowered to act as "change agents." Participants report that the contest educates them about local air pollution and increases their willingness to act to preserve air quality.
Furthermore, the initiative appears to have a secondary effect on household behavior. Researchers McCann and Stafford refer to this phenomenon as the "inconvenient youth" effect, noting evidence that the contest is influencing parents to engage in preserving air quality as well.
Broader Sustainability Efforts
While the air quality contest focuses on social marketing and student engagement, broader sustainability efforts continue through other university extensions. For example, Utah State University Extension provides guides to assist businesses in developing sustainability goals and understanding the behavior changes necessary to meet those goals through successful implementation plans.
