Prevention Approach 2: Counteradvertising

The primary goal of counteradvertising is to change perceived norms among children and adolescents regarding tobacco use.

Rationale

Research and experience demonstrate that adolescents develop attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding tobacco use from peers, family members, television, and other cultural sources. Adolescents often think that tobacco use is more widespread and universally acceptable than it actually is. Advertising links tobacco use with peer acceptance, success, and good times. Media messages that promote negative images about tobacco use, reveal the number of teens who actually use tobacco, and address the unacceptableness of tobacco use should help change these perceived norms.

Objectives of the Studies Reviewed

• To increase exposure of children and adolescents to negative messages about using tobacco or to increase positive messages about not using tobacco

• To increase adolescents' ability to identify hidden messages (e.g., "If you smoke, you're cool") in tobacco advertising

• To increase young people's awareness of tobacco industry marketing tactics

• To improve adolescents' tobacco refusal skills

• To encourage adolescents to quit smoking

Activities of the Studies Reviewed

• Radio and television campaigns

• Multilevel media campaigns that include billboards, posters, magazines, radio, and television

• A mass-media campaign linked to a school-based prevention intervention

• Airing of antitobacco media campaigns on prime-time television

Lessons Learned From Reviewed Evidence

• Counteradvertising, in the form of multicomponent media-based prevention efforts, can have an effect on youth with regard to awareness of media campaigns, decreased smoking prevalence, and nonsmokers' decreased intention to start. These efforts demonstrate the ability to result in increased negative attitudes toward smoking, an increased understanding of the consequences of smoking, and decreased rates of friends' approval of smoking.

• Multicomponent prevention efforts are more effective than single-component prevention programs. Media campaigns have been shown to support and promote other components and vice versa. Effective media campaigns involve linkages with other intervention activities.

• To be effective, media messages should be age appropriate and designed with the target audience's developmental stage in mind. In particular, messages should not be too subtle or too sophisticated.