About AMA

Executive Summary
The costs of tobacco use in the United States are enormous, and the consequences of smoking affect both adults and adolescents. In an effort to reduce such costs, the Subcommittee on Cessation of the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health recently issued a national action plan with ten recommendations to reduce tobacco use in the United States. One recommendation is to design statewide media campaigns to decrease tobacco use and help counteract the $15 billion spent on advertising and promotion by the tobacco industry.

Cutbacks in state spending on antitobacco campaigns have been shown to be followed by lower campaign awareness and increased susceptibility to smoking cigarettes among adolescents. However, if upheld, the recent Final Judgment and Remedial Order of Judge Kessler will require corrective advertising from tobacco companies that focus on messages related to beliefs for which consumers may have been misled by tobacco company marketing. The ruling could potentially require massive promotional expenditures by major tobacco companies and indicates the perceived importance of media campaigns as a critical aspect of tobacco control programs. The overall goal of such campaigns is to counteract what are viewed as deceptive marketing practices that may have contributed to erroneous beliefs about smoking and to establish (or reinforce) current negative beliefs about smoking in attempts to decrease smoking rates. Therefore, it is important to understand the beliefs that smokers and nonsmokers have about smoking and the relationship among counteradvertising campaigns variables, antismoking beliefs, and smoking.

Consistent with the subcommittee's recommendation and the recent order of Judge Kessler, the current study focuses on two primary questions: (1) Do integrated advertising campaign measures influence key antismoking beliefs of adult consumers, and does this influence vary across smoking status? and (2) What effect do consumers' evaluations of the campaign and antismoking beliefs have on smokers' consideration of quitting?

Study 1 examines (1) the effects of antitobacco advertising campaign measures (campaign advertisement integration, perceived strength of ad-based messages, advertising campaign attitude) on four key adult antismoking beliefs (tobacco industry deceptiveness, smoking addictiveness, harmfulness of secondhand smoke, and restrictions on smoking at different public venues) and (2) the influence of these campaign evaluations and beliefs on smokers' intentions to quit smoking. The results for more than 900 adult consumers show that antismoking ad campaign reactions are significantly related to the target antismoking beliefs. The findings also indicate that the campaign variables as a whole are positively related to intentions to quit smoking.

In Study 2, the authors seek to replicate and extend their findings for the campaign using similar measures and procedures for a sample of more than 900 adolescents. For these adolescents, the findings show that (1) ad message strength and attitude toward the campaign were significant predictors of all four antismoking beliefs; (2) the number of campaign advertisements recalled by adolescents was positively related to all four belief measures; and (3) beyond the demographics, the campaign variables as a group were favorably related to lower intentions to smoke in the future.

These results show that the campaign-related variables explain variance in all four of the beliefs beyond what is explained by demographics and smoking status for both adults and adolescents. In general, ad message strength had the strongest effect for adults. For adolescents, ad message strength was strongest for three of the four belief measures. Attitude toward the campaign had a significant effect for three of the four antismoking beliefs for adults and a significant effect on all four belief measures for adolescents. For adolescents, the relationships between the number of campaign advertisements recalled and the beliefs were stronger than for adults. Although there is a positive relationship between campaign attitude and beliefs for adolescents, smoking trial status influenced the effect of campaign attitude for all four belief variables. The results suggest that more favorable attitudes about the campaign have stronger effects on antismoking beliefs for those with prior trial behavior than for those without trial.

The second research question addresses relationships of the ad campaign constructs and target antismoking beliefs on (1) adult smokers' consideration of quitting and (2) adolescents' smoking intentions. Campaign variables are associated with a greater likelihood of adults indicating consideration of quitting and lower intentions to smoke in the future for adolescents. Ad campaign attitude has significant and favorable effects for both adolescents and adults. There is some evidence that the campaign constructs continue to influence intent even when the focal campaign-related antismoking beliefs are included, suggesting a positive role for the campaign beyond its impact on antismoking beliefs.

In general, findings both for adults and for adolescents are supportive of the potential benefits of positive consumer reactions to antismoking campaigns. Designing advertisements with the strongest antismoking messages while using campaign ads toward which consumers have had favorable attitudes influence antismoking beliefs. Younger adult smokers had stronger beliefs about secondhand smoke and also were more likely to consider quitting, suggesting a potentially more receptive market for future antismoking campaigns. In summary, the authors draw comparisons between the adult and the adolescent findings and offer some implications for potential advertising campaigns related to consumers' beliefs about smoking.

Biography
Andrea H. Tangari is currently a PhD student in the Department of Marketing and Logistics, Sam M. Walton College of Business, at the University of Arkansas. She received her BS from Indiana University (2002) and her MBA from the University of Arkansas (2006). Her research has been presented at national conferences, including the Marketing and Public Policy Conference and the American Marketing Association's Winter Educator's Conference.

Scot Burton is a professor and Wal-Mart Chair in Marketing in the Department of Marketing and Logistics, Sam M. Walton College of Business, at the University of Arkansas. His research interests include public policy and consumer welfare concerns, promotion and pricing issues, and survey research measurement issues. In addition to Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, his research has been published in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Retailing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and other journals.

J. Craig Andrews is a professor and Charles H. Kellstadt Chair in Marketing in the Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration, at Marquette University. He received his PhD in Marketing from the University of South Carolina in 1985. His research interests focus primarily on advertising and public health issues. He recently served on the Behavior Change Expert Panel for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign and was a consumer research specialist with the Federal Trade Commission. Andrews was editor of Journal of Public Policy & Marketing from 1998 to 2001. His research has appeared in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Retailing, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Advertising, and Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, among others.

Richard G. Netemeyer is Ralph A. Beeton Professor of Free Enterprise in the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. He received his PhD in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina in 1986. From 1986 to 2001, he was a member of the Marketing Department in the College of Business at Louisiana State University. In 2001, he joined the faculty at McIntire. His substantive research interests include consumer and organizational behavior topics and public policy and social issues. His methodological research interests focus on survey methods and measurement. His research has been published in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, and American Journal of Public Health, among others. 

Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Vol. 26, No. 2, Fall 2007
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