PROVOCATIVE APPEALS IN ANTISMOKING MASS-MEDIA CAMPAIGNS TARGETING ADOLESCENTS - THE ACCUMULATED EFFECT OF MULTIPLE EXPOSURES

This paper reports findings from a longitudinal study that evaluated t he accumulated effect of three consecutive mass media campaigns using provocative and dissonance arousing appeals to prevent cigarette smoki ng by adolescents, In the spring of 1992, all eligible adolescents age d 14 and 15 in one intervention county (N = 4898) and one control coun ty (N = 5439) in Norway mere included in the study, and were followed until they were 17 and 18 years of age in 1995, Only students who comp leted questionnaires both in 1992 and 1995 were included in the analys es, Among the non-smokers at baseline, a significantly lower proportio n of adolescents of both genders had started to smoke in the intervent ion county compared to the proportion in the control county, Among tho se who were smokers at baseline, significantly more girls in the inter vention county had stopped smoking than in the control county, while n o significant difference between the counties was detected among boys, Our findings suggest that provocative and dissonance arousing appeals that create affective reactions and lead to interpersonal communicati on should be given more attention in campaigns designed to influence a dolescent smoking, However, such appeals may easily produce negative r eactions and the normative context should be thoroughly considered whe n using such appeals in future interventions.