New Study Credits American Legacy Foundation(R) Campaign
                        for 22 Percent of the Decline

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Legacy Foundation's
national truth(R) youth smoking prevention campaign accelerated the decline in
youth smoking rates between 2000 and 2002.  Twenty-two percent of the overall
decline in youth smoking during these years is attributable directly to the
truth(R) campaign, according to new research published in the March issue of
the American Journal of Public Health.  The study, which is the first to
evaluate the behavioral outcomes of the truth(R) campaign, also found that by
2002, there were approximately 300,000 fewer youth smokers as a result of
truth(R).  The study assessed whether there is a dose-response relationship
between the level of exposure to the campaign and changes in youth smoking
rates during the first two years of the campaign, 2000-2002.  While the
truth(R) campaign was launched nationally, the amount of campaign messages
varied considerably across media markets and over time during 2000-2002.
    "Evidence of a Dose-Response Relationship between "Truth" Antismoking Ads
and Youth Smoking" by Matthew Farrelly and colleagues found that youth who
were exposed to a greater number of truth(R) advertisements were less likely
to smoke.  Dr. Farrelly notes that, "previous research showed that truth(R)
advertisements appealed to teens and changed their attitudes about smoking.
Now we find these positive reactions have resulted in lower smoking rates, the
most important outcome for public health."  The study examined changes in
youth smoking to varying rates of exposure to the ads over time and across
media markets in the U.S., controlling for national and state trends in
tobacco control measures and other risk behaviors.  Grade, race/ethnicity,
gender, parental education and weekly income were also controlled factors in
the study.
    Data from the Monitoring the Future survey was used to provide a
nationally representative sample of approximately 50,000 students in grades 8,
10 and 12 who were surveyed each spring from 1997-2002.  The Monitoring the
Future survey is designed to monitor youth alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug
use in the U.S. and is conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for
Social Research.
    "The truth(R) campaign has made a significant impact in reducing youth
smoking rates in the United States.  The study findings are consistent with
previous studies, which demonstrate that effective smoking prevention
campaigns are critical to the public health of this nation and that their
elimination will likely reverse gains that have been made in reducing youth
smoking," said Dr. Cheryl Healton, president and CEO of the American Legacy
Foundation.
    "More and more teens are choosing health by not smoking, and that is
absolutely terrific news," said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding.  "Still,
over 4 million teens in the United States are smoking cigarettes so it's
important for campaigns that work such as truth(R) to continue so we don't
lose the valuable momentum we've gained to date in the fight against smoking."
    Each day, more than 4,000 youth ages 12 to 17 try a cigarette for the
first time(1), and 80 percent of all smokers have their first cigarette before
age 18(2).  Between one-third and one-half of youth who try a cigarette will
go on to become a daily smoker(3).  From 1997-2002, the prevalence of smoking
among all grades combined (8th, 10th and 12th) fell from 28.0 percent to 18.0
percent, representing a 36 percent overall decline.
    "The truth(R) campaign has performed an immeasurable service in
encouraging the decline of smoking among youth," said Georges C. Benjamin, MD,
FACP, executive director of the American Public Health Association.  "Every
day, thousands of children jeopardize their health by becoming smokers, and
more lives will be imperiled if we do not continue to educate teens about the
deadly risks of smoking.  The truth(R) campaign undoubtedly plays a crucial
part in changing the attitudes of young people toward smoking, thus shielding
them from future tobacco addiction and related disease.  By preventing this
hazardous behavior, we may further ensure that today's young people will be
healthier adults."
    The truth(R) campaign, launched in February 2000, is the largest national
youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed
by the tobacco industry.  The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco
industry, the truth about addiction, health effects and social consequences of
smoking and allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving
them the facts about the industry and its products.  The campaign can be seen
on media popular with youth such as MTV, FOX, the WB, Fuse, Spike, G4 and BET.
Print advertisements for the campaign run in magazines such as Vibe, CosmoGirl
and Transworld Skateboarder and thetruth.com is a popular Web site with an
average of 250,000 unique visitors each month.
    "We are at a critical stage in this fight.  Both state-sponsored youth
smoking prevention programs and the truth(R) campaign are in jeopardy," said
William Sorrell, Vermont Attorney General and member of the American Legacy
Foundation's Board of Directors.  "The foundation has received what is likely
its last major payment from the Master Settlement Agreement.  Now the funding
for truth(R) is rapidly declining.  We need both the state and national
campaigns to prevent young people from becoming addicted to cigarettes and
facing a lifetime of disease."
    The American Legacy Foundation, which provides strategic direction and
funding for the truth(R) campaign, received in 2003 what is likely its final
payment from the National Public Education Fund established by the Master
Settlement Agreement.  Despite its success, the truth(R) campaign now faces an
unprecedented funding challenge. Youth smoking rates are at a historic 28-year
low.  In fact, at the present rate of decline youth smoking could meet or
exceed the federal Healthy People 2010 objective of a rate of decline to 16
percent by 2010.  truth(R) is needed to counter the $12.5 billion the tobacco
industry spent in 2002 to advertise and promote their products in the U.S.
alone.  Without truth(R) this decline could end or even reverse itself. If
truth(R) dies it won't die alone.

    The American Legacy Foundation(R) is dedicated to building a world where
young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit.  Located in Washington, D.C.,
the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco
use through grants, technical assistance and training, youth activism,
strategic partnerships, counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns,
public relations, and outreach to populations disproportionately affected by
the toll of tobacco.  The foundation's national programs include Circle of
Friends(R), Great Start(R), a Priority Populations Initiative, Streetheory(R)
and truth(R).  The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the
November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys
general from 46 states, five US territories, and the tobacco industry.  Visit
http://www.americanlegacy.org.

    (1) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Summary of
        findings from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume
        II. Technical appendices and selected data tables. Rockville,
        Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2002; NHSDA
        Series H-18; DHHS publication no. (SMA)02-3759.

    (2) Mowery PD, Brick PD, Farrelly MC. Legacy First Look Report 3. Pathways
        to Established Smoking: Results from the 1999 National Youth Tobacco
        Survey. Washington DC: American Legacy Foundation. October 2000.

    (3) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 1998. Decline Selected
        Cigarette Smoking Initiation and Quitting Behaviors Among High School
        Students. 47(19):386-389.
SOURCE American Legacy Foundation
Web Site: http://www.americanlegacy.org


Edgy Ads Prevent Teen Smoking

BY JIM SHAMP : The Herald-Sun
jshamp@heraldsun.com
Mar 3, 2005 : 1:32 am ET http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-582449.html

DURHAM -- Information-laden commercials about smoking's dangers don't keep most young people off cigarettes, but Research Triangle Institute researchers say one series of edgy, attention-grabbing ads was responsible for keeping some 300,000 American teens from lighting up from 2000 through 2002.

The $100 million-a-year "truth" campaign was developed by the Arnold Worldwide advertising conglomerate for the tobacco-settlement-funded American Legacy Foundation.

RTI's Matthew Farrelly and colleagues credit the anti-smoking campaign for 22 percent of an estimated 1.36 million-person drop in teen smokers during the period. Overall teen smoking has been declining in the U.S. since 1997.

Farrelly is director of RTI's Public Health Economics and Policy Research program and lead author of the ad campaign study, published in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

He said he had studied a Philip Morris campaign, which bore the theme of "Think, Don't Smoke." He said that the cigarette company's campaign bombed because it carried overt messages that left teen audiences cold.

"Some think delivering a message clearly is all that's needed," Farrelly said. "But beyond that, we need to think about who's getting the message."

For example, Farrelly and his colleagues' first scientific assessment of the relationship between exposure to the national truth campaign and changes in youth smoking rates cited a significant effect.

"This Legacy campaign included some edgy-looking teens who looked like they might be risk-takers," he said. "But they also confront tobacco company advertising tactics. They're taking a very different approach, to basically have truth be marketed almost like a product. That's appealing to teens."

Rather than hitting young consumers over the head with preaching, Farrelly said, the Arnold Worldwide researchers developed an intimate understanding of their audience. That resulted in subtle underlying messages highlighting tobacco's toll in disease and death. Some used graphic, sometimes startling images.

"So in that way it set itself apart with hard-hitting messages," Farrelly said.

To ferret out the impact of the Legacy campaign, the researchers analyzed varying rates of ad placements in 210 U.S. media markets.

Sampling some 50,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research's annual "Monitoring the Future" survey, they then compared individuals' ad exposure levels with changes in overall youth smoking rates within those markets.

To make sure they were comparing "apples and apples," Farrelly said the researchers controlled for such factors such as "noise" from other youth-focused substance abuse prevention programs, other state and federal tobacco control programs, other risk behaviors and differences in race and ethnicity, gender, parental education and family income.

He said it's possible that the knowledge gained in the "truth" anti-smoking campaign could help other campaigns aimed at teen safety, such as safe sex, responsible drinking and safe driving.

"My 3-year-old son can readily identify a Pepsi logo in a 40-year-old book," said Farrelly. "He can look at it and say, 'Hey, that's Pepsi.' Brand impressions start very young, whether they're for Pepsi or for Marlboro. Young people are bombarded with messages -- sometimes harmless, sometimes unhealthy."