Anti-Smoking Campaigns May Change Beliefs
(about "light" and "ultra-light" cigarette dangers)

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, May 1, 2000: p.8

COPYRIGHT 2000 Manisses Communications Group, Inc.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University's Department of Biobehavioral Health have found that anti-smoking advertising campaigns that reveal the dangers of "light" and "ultra-light" cigarettes may change people's beliefs about smoking. Based on a preliminary examination of an aggressive public-health campaign in Massachusetts, investigators surveyed 500 current and former smokers in the state and compared their responses to those of 501 current and former smokers in other states.

Researchers found that 332 of the Massachusetts participants had seen the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's ads about low-tar and light cigarettes and were less likely to believe that light cigarettes have fewer health risks than high-tar cigarettes do. "Many smokers think that some cigarettes are less risky than others, yet the reality of this is doubtful," said Lynn T. Kozlowski, Ph.D., the study's lead author. "Targeted advertising can correct this possibly serious misunderstanding." The study appears in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.