ATHENS, Ga., July 20 (UPI) -- Some anti-smoking ads are ineffective, while others actually make youth more likely to light up, according to a study at the University of Georgia.
Hye-Jin Paek, of the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, found that anti-smoking ads are most effective when they convince youth that their friends are listening to the ads. Otherwise, the ads appear to stimulate the rebellious and curious nature of youth, making them more interested in smoking, according to Paek.
Paek and co-author Albert Gunther, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, examined data from surveys of nearly 1,700 middle school students.
"Anti-smoking ads have the greatest impact on smoking attitudes and behavior when adolescents think that their peers are listening to those messages," Paek said in a statement. "And that makes sense because people are more likely to listen to what their close peers say rather than what the media says."
Perception is sometimes more powerful than actual behavior, said Paek. The study, published in the journal Communication Research, found that it doesn't necessarily matter how a teen's friends respond to the ads, but how the teen thinks their friends are responding.
