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Nicotine & Tobacco Research Advance Access published online on April 16, 2009
Nicotine & Tobacco Research, doi:10.1093/ntr/ntp045
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Uncovering the most effective active ingredients of antismoking public service announcements: The role of actor and message characteristics

William G. Shadel, Craig S. Fryer and Shannah Tharp-Taylor

William G. Shadel, Ph.D., RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA
Craig S. Fryer, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Shannah Tharp-Taylor, Ph.D., RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA

Corresponding Author:William G. Shadel, Ph.D., RAND Corporation, 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Telephone: 412-683-2300; Fax: 412-683-2800; E-mail: shadel{at}rand.org


  Abstract

Introduction: This study examined whether the appeal of actors (i.e., their likeability and attractiveness) used in antismoking public service announcements (PSAs) interacts with adolescents’ risk of future smoking to predict adolescents’ smoking resistance self-efficacy and whether the antismoking messages in the PSAs further moderate this relationship.

Methods: We used a 2 (future smoking risk: low, high) x 2 (actor appeal: low, high) x 3 (PSA antismoking message: tobacco industry manipulation, short-term smoking effects, long-term smoking effects) study design. A diverse sample of 110 adolescents (aged 11–17 years), with varying levels of experience with smoking, rated their smoking resistance self-efficacy after viewing each of the PSAs in each design cell.

Results: Overall, PSAs that used long-term smoking effects messages were associated with the strongest smoking resistance self-efficacy, followed in turn by PSAs that used short-term smoking effects messages and by tobacco industry manipulation messages. We found a significant interaction of actor appeal and PSA antismoking message. The use of more appealing actors was associated with stronger smoking resistance self-efficacy only in long-term smoking effects PSAs. The use of less appealing actors was associated with stronger smoking resistance self-efficacy for tobacco industry manipulation PSAs and short-term smoking effects PSAs. Future smoking risk did not moderate any of these findings.

Discussion: Antismoking PSAs that emphasize long-term smoking effects are most strongly associated with increased smoking resistance self-efficacy. The effect of these PSAs can be strengthened by using actors whom adolescents perceive to be appealing.

Received: February 17, 2008; Accepted: January 25, 2009
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