Actors and smoking susceptibility, p. 3
movies may lower the risk of eventual smoking uptake (Restricting R-Movies, 2002).
Because previous research has identified links between positive media portrayals of
smoking behaviors and smoking susceptibility among adolescents (Altman, Levine,
Coeytaux, Slade, & Jaffe, 1996; Antecol, Flora, & Henricksen, 1999; Pierce, Choi,
Gilpin, Farkas & Berry, 1998; Pollay, 1996), the current study examined the possible
relationship between watching television and movie actors smoke and adolescents’
susceptibility to becoming smokers. The relationship between media exposure to actors
who smoke and susceptibility was further explored by comparing adolescent females
versus males.
Literature Review
In the U.S. tobacco is the most heavily marketed consumer product after the
automobile, and in 1998 the industry spent more than $7 billion (up from $6 billion in
1993) on advertising and promotion (US Department of Health and Human Services,
2000), equivalent to an average spending of $18 million per day. Tobacco companies use
a variety of tactics to recruit new smokers, including advertising and promotional items,
and there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that receptivity to tobacco
marketing is a directly linked to increased susceptibility among children and adolescents
(Pierce, Lee & Gilpin, 1994; Pierce et al., 1998). Additional research has shown that
children and teenagers are responsive to tobacco advertisements (Fisher, Scwartz,
Richards, Berman, and Krugman, 1991). Pollay (1997) found that cigarette advertising is
three times more effective among teenagers than among adults. According to Pollay
(1997) the cigarette industry seeks to appeal to factors such as social acceptance and
Convention