Tobacco Industry and the Young Adults’ Smoking Motivation
Published on June 12, 2009 6:38 AM
Statistics show that most of tobacco smokers are young adults aged 18 to 25 years old. In the United States, this is the age group with the highest smoking rate.Researchers concluded that media campaigns that described the tobacco industry in a negative light and that appeal to young adults may be a powerful intervention to decrease young adult smoking.That’s why the tobacco industry cares a lot about public opinion and hates those ads with negative light, because the ads make the industry look bad.
This is the first study which wants to find the links between the tobacco industry and smoking behaviors of young adults.
For to identify these links and attitudes, the researchers asked a group of smokers how strongly they agreed or disagreed with three claims: taking a position against smoking is important to me; I want to be involved with efforts to get rid of cigarette smoking; and I would like to see Cigarette Companies go out of business.
At the end of the investigation researchers found that those who agreed with those statements and supported action against the tobacco industry were one-third as likely to be smokers as those who did not support action against the tobacco industry.
But among current smokers, those who had a negative attitude towards the tobacco industry were over four times more likely to plan to quit smoking than smokers who did not support action against the tobacco industry.
According to researchers, tobacco industry educates the public about misleading practices of the tobacco industry in order to influence individuals' decisions about smoking.
They said: "Running anti-tobacco ads to expose the fact that the tobacco industry kills five million people worldwide annually turns out to be very successful in averting and promoting cessation."
