EXPLORING YOUNG PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS OF SMOKING IMAGES IN YOUTH MAGAZINES

Although research has shown that cigarette advertising can influence s moking among young people, no studies have looked at young people's pe rceptions of other media images of smoking, This paper describes how f ocus groups were used to explore the way young people in two age group s (12-13 and 15-16 years) interpreted fashion photographs from youth m agazines which contained smoking images, their perceptions of smoking and non-smoking imagery, and their views on smoking, It appears that t he interpretative process consisted of relating a representation of th e image to the content of the photo and comparing the congruence of th is representation with the participant's model of reality, Most refere nces to the presence of a cigarette were negative or neutral, with the perceived congruence of the cigarette within the portrayed image vary ing between photographs. Differences were detected between the age gro ups in the way they interpreted the pictures and in their perceptions of smoking, The 12-13 year olds were characterized by concrete thought and interpretation which produced very anti-smoking accounts, paintin g a picture of a cultural role for smoking in their lives which they f ound intimidating, The older teenagers employed a more abstract interp retative process which reflected smoking in a more ambivalent light, T he possible effect of these media images on young people's smoking beh aviour is discussed.