Wonder why so many teens smoke?

[Betsy]

You guys know I'm opposed to the smoking ban for several reasons, but obviously smoking is bad for you and it's a shame so many teens choose to smoke. Ever wonder why, when there's so much information out there about how bad it is for you? This article today may explain it.

Study: Anti-smoking ads give teen rebels a cause
by Christopher Lee, Washington Post

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

That principle appears to apply to some smoking-prevention ad 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."

Researchers gauged the effect of the ads by analyzing television ratings from 75 U.S. Media markets and date from an annual national survey of eighth, tenth and twelfth graders from 1999 to 2002.

Eighth-graders likely to have seen the ads targets at parents were more likely to believe that the dangers of smoking had been exaggerated and more likely to say they planned to smoke, the study found. Older teenagers also expressed stronger approval of smoking and were more likely to have smoked in the 30 days before the school survey.

In the ads, "no reason beyong simply being a teenager is offered as to why youths should not smoke" wrote the researchers, led by Melanie Wakefield of the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.

Smoking prevention ads that tobacco companies targeted at kids appeared to have no effect either way, the study found.

Dave Sutton, a Philip Morris USA spokesman, said the ads had been tested to make sure no unintended message was sent. Of parents who saw at least one ad, 61 percent talked to their children about not smoking, he said.

[Savonarola]

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

That's why I'm in favor of demonstrating why they shouldn't do it. I like the thetruth.com TV commercials; the "singing cowboy" one is particularly touching.

Here are some others, in case you're not familiar with them:
Squadron
Ammoniade
H-Bomm
Splode
Ratman
Memorial

[Dardedar]

Sav's right. The best response to the tobacco industry is mockery.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

The tobacco industry knows exactly how teenagers respond to being "talked to" by parents. That's why they started the program. They get brownie points for doing an anti-smoking campaign AND get more kids addicted to the drug they sell.