CIGARETTE ADVERTISING AND CHILDRENS SMOKING - WHY REG WAS WITHDRAWN

Objective-To examine the appeal of the Embassy Regal ''Reg'' campaign to young people. Design-Three quantitative surveys and one piece of qu alitative research: (a) self completion questionnaire administered in classrooms, (b) questionnaire led interviews with children, (c) questi onnaire led interviews with adults, and (d) group discussions with chi ldren and adults. Settings-(a) Secondary and middle schools in England ; (b) north of England, Scotland, and Wales; (c) north of England, Sco tland, and Wales; and (d) Glasgow.Subjects-(a) 5451 schoolchildren age d 11-15 recruited by stratified random sampling; (b) 437 children aged 5-10 recruited by quota sampling; (c) 814 adults aged 15-65 recruited by quota sampling; and (d) 12 groups of children aged 10-15, three gr oups of adults aged 18-24, and three groups of adults aged 35-55. Resu lts-Children were familiar with cigarette advertising and in particula r the Reg campaign. Although younger children struggled to understand the creative content of the adverts, older and smoking children could understand and appreciate the humour. They considered Reg to be amusin g and could relate to the type of joke used in the advert. In addition Reg's flippant attitude towards serious issues appealed to the childr en. While adults aged 18-24 understood the campaign they did not ident ify with it, and 35-55 year olds (the campaign's supposed target) were unappreciative of the campaign. Conclusions-The Reg campaign was gett ing through to children more effectively than it was to adults and hel d most appeal for teenagers, particularly 14-15 year old smokers. It c learly contravened the code governing tobacco advertising, which state s that advertising must not appeal to children more than it does to ad ults, and it may have had a direct impact on teenage smoking. In view of these findings the Advertising Standards Authority's decision to wi thdraw the Reg campaign seems appropriate.