Smoking Advertisements

"I wish I had learned other ways to deal with my stress rather than smoking..."

By Sarah Smith
May, 2007

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Tobacco companies are having a hard time coming up with successful ad campaigns to curb teen smoking. A recent study by The American Journal of Public Health found industry-run campaigns are not only ineffective, but they may have the opposite effect, and increase teens’ likelihood to smoke. So it is a scam or just bad advertising? High school student Sarah Smith explores what the research says, and what her friends who are smokers think.

Maybe you’ve seen Philip Morris’ “Talk, They’ll Listen,” commercials on TV. They’re the ads with clean-cut kids telling their parents not to worry about them smoking because they listened when their parents told them not to.

ADVERTISEMENT
So when someone says, “Do you want a cigarette?”...even if you're not there, your words are...

SARAH
Even though these ads are targeted at parents, the campaign is supposed to cut down on teen smoking. I did a little focus group with some of my friends who are smokers to get their reactions. Nineteen-year-old Drew Dixon thinks these ads are pretty stiff.

DREW (on tape)
It’s not real. You can tell, "Oh, you've hired a child actor to stand in a hallway and say, 'Hey, I’m cool because I don’t smoke.'" And I feel like I’m not exactly that. I’m different. I live a different life. So...

SARAH
Drew started smoking last year.

DREW (on tape)
And it’s something that I do a lot. It's not just something that I do because I want to hang out with people and look cool. It's something I want to do because I want to do it. The reason why I smoke now is because it helps me calm down. It helps me when I’m anxious. I have a lot of anxiety attacks. It helps me be calm, and get my thought collected. It makes me feel better. I like the taste and it's fun.

SARAH
Drew says the most effective way to get him to think twice about smoking is to give him gory details about the health risks, not focus on popularity. A study by the American Journal of Public Health proves his point. Researcher Frank Chaloupka, says the study found that Philip Morris’ "Talk They’ll Listen" ads influenced teens’ smoking habits in a surprising way.

FRANK CHALOUPKA (on tape)
When it came to the ads that targeted parents - the ones that told parents to talk to their kids about smoking...these ads if anything had the opposite effect you'd expect. They actually made it more likely for kids to smoke.

SARAH
It makes sense that these ads don’t work. It’s the ultimate reverse psychology to show happy kids who get along with their parents pledging that they won’t smoke.

SARAH WILLIS (on tape)
I think that it’s pretty stupid because most teenagers want to rebel or whatever and listening to parents or whatever is stupid or something, I don't know.

SARAH
That’s my 17-year-old friend Sarah Willis. As a smoker, she’s not surprised by the research that some ads might encourage smoking...neither is Drew.

DREW (on tape)
There are commercials I have seen, anti-smoking commercials that I have seen, that make me go, “Oh, I could really go for a cigarette right now.”

SARAH
Drew thinks there’s no business incentive for tobacco companies to prevent teen smoking. I tried to ask Philip Morris about the results of this study, but a company spokesperson declined to comment on the story.

One thing I did find out in my reporting: Surveys of teens show that kids are less likely to smoke when they know their parents disapprove and are monitoring their behavior. Still, if I had to make an effective anti-smoking ad, I might follow Sarah’s advice.

SARAH WILLIS (on tape)
I would probably just put in how much it sucks – it does suck. And it’s so hard to quit. And learning other coping skills is better. You know, I wish I had learned other ways to deal with my stress rather than smoking because it’s really hard to quit once you start and so it’s worth not even starting at all.

SARAH
Research supports the idea that focusing on health effects, like addiction, is more effective at preventing teen smoking than trying to fight peer pressure. The American Legacy Foundation’s Truth ad campaign tells it like it is.

TRUTH ADVERTISEMENT
Singing cowboy: “You don’t always die from tobacco, sometimes you just lose a lung...”

SARAH
For me, this ad has a much stronger message than any Philip Morris ad. I certainly don’t want to lose a lung any time soon – or ever for that matter. - Sarah Smith is a reporter at Blunt Radio in Maine. Her story was produced by Youth Radio.