The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Research findings show counter-marketing media campaigns with anti-tobacco messages targeting youths are effective in decreasing smoking prevalence among youths. However, despite evidence showing their effectiveness, many tobacco prevention campaigns have been eliminated. This study investigates how program elimination impacted tobacco control for youths in Minnesota by examining campaign awareness, susceptibility to smoke, and intention to smoke using data from the Target Market anti-tobacco campaign (2000-2004).

Methods: Using logistic regression analyses to examine youth's susceptibility to smoke and intention to smoke a cigarette in the next year, we ran the logistic regressions for Surveys 3 and 4 of the Target Market campaign, timing the analyses for program termination. We present the odds ratios for key predictor variables (p<.05 alpha level), controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity/race.

Results: Logistic regression analyses indicate that at Survey 3, as adolescents age, susceptibility to smoke increased 9% (OR=1.094), males were 34% more likely to be susceptible to smoke than females (OR=1.336), and the campaign awareness variables were not significant at this time. However, at Survey 4, with each year of age, youths were 10% more likely to be susceptible to smoke (OR=1.103), gender was no longer significant, and as youth's self-reported advertising awareness decreased, their susceptibility to smoke increased by 46% (1-OR=.544) compared to youths aware of the campaign. Findings from this study emphasize the need for youths to have continuous and frequent exposure to anti-tobacco messages. Further, this study shows the need for continued support in this area.