Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education

In February 2000, the American Legacy Foundation launched a national media campaign know as truth to counter the influence of tobacco marketing and imagery targeting youths. The primary target audience for the truth campaign is 12 to 17 year old youths who are susceptible or open to smoking. The purpose of this report is to summarize awareness of tobacco countermarketing and reactions to truth and TDS campaign messages. In addition, we examine how awareness of and and reaction to these messages varies by gender, race/ethnicity, and stage of smoking (e.g., nonsmoker, smoker) This report focuses on several key questions: 1)What health and safety messages have youths seen or hear on TV, radio, billboards, or in magazines in the past months? 2)Where are youths seeing and/or hearing tobacco countermarketing messages? 3)How has overall awareness of countermarketing campaigns changed since the launch of the truth campaign? 4)What specific tobacco countermarketing television ads have youths recently seen? 5)How did youth s react to truth and TDS ads they saw on TV? 6)How did youths respond to different styles of countermarketing television ads?