Promotion of Smoking Cessation with Emotional and/or Graphic Antismoking Advertising

Farrelly Mc, Duke JC, Davis KC, Nonnemaker JM, Kamyab K, Willett JG, Juster HR. Am J Prev Med 2012.

This study examined the impact of emotional and/or graphic antismoking television ads on quit attempts in the past 12 months among adult smokers in New York State. Data from the 2003-2010 New York Adult Tobacco Surveys were analyzed. Exposure to advertising, as measured by self-reported confirmed recall and market-level gross rating points, were positively associated with an increased odds of making a quit attempt. The findings held for all smokers, for smokers who want to quit, and for smokers in different household income brackets and education levels. When data were analyzed looking at exposure to emotional and/or graphic advertisements, the findings also held. Exposure to advertisements without strong negative emotions or graphic images had no effect. The authors concluded that strongly emotional and graphic antismoking advertisements are effective in increasing population-level quit attempts among adult smokers.