Anti-Youth-Smoking Ads May Have Opposite Effect

Article in the Washington Post — Anti-Youth-Smoking Ads May Have Opposite Effect:

The surest way to get teenagers to do something is to tell them not to.

That principle appears to apply to some smoking-prevention ads created by tobacco companies, a new study has found.

Youngsters 12 to 17 were less likely to see smoking as harmful and had stronger intentions to smoke after the airing of television ads that urged parents to talk to their children about not lighting up, according to the study to be published in December in the American Journal of Public Health. The slogan of the national campaign, begun in 1999 by cigarette industry leader Philip Morris USA, was “Talk. They’ll listen.”

BGS