impact of no smoking advertisement before films
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Answer:
This study examines whether smoking portrayal in movies or antismoking advertisements affect smoking intensity among young adults.
Methods
We conducted an experimental study in which 84 smokers were randomly assigned using a two (no-smoking versus smoking portrayal in the movie) by three (two prosocial ads, two antismoking ads or one of each) factorial design. Participants viewed a 60-minute movie with two commercial breaks and afterwards completed a questionnaire. Smoking during the session was allowed and observed.
Results
Exposure to the movie with smoking had no effect on smoking intensity. Those who viewed two antismoking ads had significantly lower smoking intensity compared with those who viewed two prosocial ads. There was no interaction between movie smoking and antismoking ads. Baseline CO (carbon monoxide) level had the largest effect on smoking intensity.
Conclusion
These findings provide further evidence to support antismoking ads placed with movies because of their possible effect on young adult smoking behaviour. However, caution is warranted, because nicotine dependence appears to be the primary predictor of smoking intensity among young adult smokers in this study.
INTRODUCTION
People are exposed on a daily basis to entertainment media, often for hours at a time.1 While tobacco advertisements in the visual media are banned or reduced in many countries, entertainment media (ie, music video clips, television series and movies) still contains many prompts to smoke, because they frequently depict characters that smoke. Because movies and television series with smokers are distributed worldwide, these smoking depictions contribute to people’s exposure to smoking models worldwide.2 Our previous experimental study showed that daily smokers smoke more when exposed to ‘real-life’ smoking models.3 However, we do not yet know how daily smokers are affected by smoking models in the visual media.
Characters that smoke tobacco in contemporary movies are predominantly white, male, middle-aged and of high socioeconomic status.4 According to the social learning theory,5,6 the high social status of the movie star increases influence; making it more likely that his/her smoking behaviour will be adopted by the viewers. This is problematic, especially because the movie character is usually portrayed with appealing traits (eg, good looking, mature, healthy, successful) and the negative consequences of smoking are absent in these movies.1,7 Therefore, it is crucial to gain knowledge on the impact of smoking portrayal in movies on people’s smoking-related cognitions and smoking behaviour. In 2008, the National Cancer Institute issued a publication reviewing the effect of entertainment media smoking,1 and concluded that there is a significant association between exposure to smoking depictions and youth smoking initiation. The conclusion was based on cross-sectional8–10 and longitudinal survey studies,11,12 which show that smoking portrayal in movies is associated with more favourable attitudes towards smoking and a higher likelihood to initiate smoking. Besides survey studies, a few experimental studies have been conducted. The advantage of using such an experimental design to examine the impact of smoking portrayal in movies is: (1) the manipulation of smoking versus no-smoking portrayal in movies, and (2) enhancing causal interpretations.1 The experimental research that has been conducted in this area showed that adolescents and young adults who are exposed to smoking in movies have a higher likelihood for pro-smoking beliefs and intentions to smoke.13–15
Importantly, Pechmann and Shih reasoned that, by displaying an antismoking advertisement before the movie, adolescent viewers will be less likely to approve of the smoking in movies.7 Their experimental study, conducted in a classroom setting among 800 non-smoking adolescents (14–15 years of age), demonstrated that showing an antismoking advertisement—emphasising the negative consequences of smoking—before the movie reduces the effect of smoking models in movies. The findings are partly in line with the quasi-experimental study of Edwards and colleagues among 2038 female visitors to real movie theatres (12–17 years of age).16 They showed that among smokers (but not among non-smokers) antismoking advertisements before a movie with smoking portrayal decreased intentions to smoke in the future.