Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the impact on young people of three tobacco industry (TI) advertisements previously screened on MTV Europe and in cinemas in Australia. The three ads were exposed to 14–18-year-old smokers and non-smokers using commercial advertising copy-testing techniques. The primary dependent variable for both smokers and non-smokers was the advertisement's ability to increase feelings of not wanting to smoke in the future, and, for smokers, the extent to which the ad made current smokers think they should try to stop smoking. The results for the TI ads were compared with copy testing data for youth-targeted Western Australian tobacco control (TC) ads.
The TI ads performed as well or better than some TC ads, but not as well as other TC ads suggesting that attacks on the tobacco industry for airing smoking prevention ads cannot always use these ads' ineffectiveness as an argument for their removal. However, these tobacco industry ads may increase positive (or lessen negative) attitudes toward the tobacco industry, which could further the industry's aims of increased support or less criticism from community groups. It may be that this is the more important reason for advocates to call for such ads to be withdrawn.
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