Fentanyl Prevention in the Age of Misinformation: How Virginia Paired Teen Survey Data with Trusted Creators

Session Description: Teens are drowning in AI-generated content and dramatic headlines, and they have responded by trusting almost nothing they see online. For fentanyl prevention, that skepticism is both the barrier and the opportunity. The Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) built the latest phase of its Deadly Dose campaign on central insights from its statewide Fentanyl Facts Survey of 699 Virginia teens: young people don't want to be scared or lectured. They want verifiable facts so they can decide for themselves. The survey revealed exactly which facts were missing. Fewer than half of teens knew what fentanyl is, only 44% said they would call 911 during an overdose, and fewer than half had heard of naloxone. Rather than pushing those facts through traditional ads alone, VFHY recruited social media creators with Virginia teen audiences to deliver them. Each influencer selected survey-informed facts and translated them into short-form video in their own voice, across two message areas: "Real Talk," which builds credibility through verified facts, and "Protect Your People," which equips teens to respond to an overdose. Strict guardrails kept content honest and judgment-free: no scare tactics, no exaggeration, no depictions of use. This session walks through the full arc, from survey design to insight to influencer selection, and content guardrails. It will share campaign performance and evaluation results. Participants will leave with a replicable playbook for pairing local data with trusted messengers to not only reach the teens who scroll past everything else but to motivate them to take action.