Prevention Works!

Antidrug Advertising Aids Prevention Efforts for Youth

The mass media, particularly some television programs and product advertising, bombard youth with images that glamorize the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. To counter these images, the prevention community is creating antidrug advertisements specifically targeting a young audience. The goal is to educate youth about the dangerous realities of illicit drug use and to promote negative attitudes among them toward illicit drug use.

One study conducted by the Department of Pediatrics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine demonstrated the positive effect of antidrug advertising on younger audiences (Reis 1994). Researchers distributed a survey focusing on these ads to more than 800 students in middle and high schools in both urban and suburban settings.

Survey respondents through self reports described how antidrug advertising changes their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes regarding alcohol and drugs (tobacco-related advertisements were not included in this study). Among other findings, data revealed that:

• 83 percent of study participants were familiar with antidrug advertisements;
• 97 percent of respondents said the ads convinced them of the dangers of illicit drug use;
• 84 percent of students listed these ads as an important source of information about drugs, although only 28 percent labeled them as their most important source;
• Non-drug-using middle school students in urban schools most commonly reported antidrug ads as deterrents to drug-related attitudes and behaviors.

Although this survey demonstrates that the media may be effective channels for antidrug messages, such messages are often overshadowed by contradictory images. One study showed that beer and wine advertisements outnumber substance-related public service announcements 50 to 1 (Atkin 1990).

One way to enhance the impact of antidrug ads is to combine them with classroom and community-centered educational initiatives. For example, one study matched an antismoking mass media campaign with school-based tobacco prevention programs for a select group of students (Flynn et al. 1992). In a followup study, these students showed a consistent pattern of less smoking and more negative attitudes toward tobacco use than peers who had been exposed to a single intervention (Flynn et al. 1994).

While supporting effective antidrug advertising and counteradvertising campaigns, the prevention community also is developing strategies to help young people become critical viewers of media images romanticizing substance use. This multifaceted prevention effort--concentrating on audience-specific ad campaigns and education--may be important to successful prevention strategies involving youth and the mass media.

Sources:
Atkin, C.K. Effects of televised alcohol messages on teenage drinking patterns. Journal of Adolescent Health Care 11: 10-24, 1990.
Flynn, B.S.; Worden, J.K.; Secker-Walker, R.H.; Badger, G.J; Geller, B.M.; and Costanza, M.C. Prevention of cigarette smoking through mass media intervention and school programs. American Journal of Public Health 82: 827-834, 1992.
Flynn, B.S.; Worden, J.K.; Secker-Walker, R.H.; Badger, G.J.; Carpenter, J.H.; and Geller, B.M. Mass media and school interventions for cigarette smoking prevention. Effects 2 years after completion. American Journal of Public Health 82: 1148-1150, 1994.
Reis, E.C.; Duggan, A.K.; Hoover, Jr., A.; and DeAngelis, C. The impact of anti-drug advertising: Perceptions of middle and high school students. Arch Pediatric Adolescent Medicine 148:1262-1268, 1994.

To receive a complimentary copy of this PreventionAlert, call SAMSHA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) @ 1-800-729-6686, TDD 1-800-487-4889 (for the hearing impaired.) PREVENTIONAlert is supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and may be copied without permission with appropriate citation. For information about PREVENTIONAlert, please contact CSAP by phone (301) 443-0581 or e-mail gensley@samhsa.gov

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