• Quiz
• This topic is tobacco use and media literacy. The activity and quiz were developed from information found in Smoke and Mirrors®, a curriculum guide for use with students in grades 5 through 8.
• For further information, also see our Fact Sheet: "Effect of Advertising on Children's Use of Tobacco."

Students investigate techniques used in print advertising (especially tobacco product advertising). The activity culminates in the making of posters that refute the subconscious messages sent to consumers through tobacco product advertisements.

1 to 2 class periods

magazines (ideally, one per student)
poster board (one per group of three students)
glue
scissors
construction paper
colored and black markers

Tobacco-related illnesses are a major public health epidemic in the United States and cause more than 400,000 deaths each year. Campaigns to educate people about the health problems associated with tobacco use have had some success; overall, tobacco use has declined in the United States in the past few decades. However, tobacco use among children and adolescents in the United States has increased over the past few decades. This is due, in part, to advertising campaigns aimed at attracting youth. In order to replace the 5,000 people who die from tobacco use or quit each day, tobacco companies must recruit new users. And tobacco companies know that children and adolescents are the best recruits; they are much more likely to become addicted to tobacco than are adults who try tobacco for the first time.

Though it is illegal to market tobacco products directly to youth, tobacco companies use a variety of techniques to appeal to children and adolescents. More than $6 billion is spent annually in tobacco advertising and promotion. Studies indicate that teenagers are three times more likely than adults to respond to cigarette ads. The most heavily advertised brands are, not coincidentally, the brands that are most used by children and adolescents; 79% of youth who smoke use Marlboro, Camel, and Newport cigarettes. While children and adolescents may think they are "choosing" to use tobacco, they are actually being influenced and manipulated by the tobacco companies and advertising.

In 1971, a ban on cigarette advertising on both radio and television began, but tobacco companies found other techniques. One technique used by tobacco companies to appeal to youth is cartoon characters such as Joe Camel. A 1991 study found that almost one-third of the 3-year-olds interviewed correctly matched Joe Camel with cigarettes; 91 percent of the six-year-olds recognized Joe Camel - more than recognized Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and other children's cartoon characters. Another technique used by tobacco companies is to run promotions where people can earn non-tobacco products - such as baseball jackets, T-shirts, duffel bags, athletic equipment, and beach towels - by turning in "points" or "miles" from cigarette packaging. Tobacco companies also develop print ads that speak to a child's or teenager's insecurities and desires, such as being cool, rugged, beautiful, thin, popular, etc.

Ask students to bring in magazines from home that do not need to be returned. Ideally, you will have one magazine per student.

1. Divide students into groups of three and distribute a magazine to each student. If you do not have enough magazines for each student, each group of three students can share one magazine.
2. Give each group of students five minutes to identify one advertisement (for any product or service) that they like or think is particularly effective.
3. Give each group approximately one minute to share the advertisement they selected with the rest of the class and to explain why they like it or think it is effective. Create a list of the reasons they give for selecting the ads on the chalk board.
4. Explain that now you're going to look at a specific industry's ads - the tobacco industry - to see if the ads are effective and why.
5. Give each group five minutes to select an advertisement for a tobacco product. They should identify the key messages the tobacco companies are trying to send about their products.
6. Give each group one minute to share the advertisement and its key messages with the class. Create a list of key messages from tobacco ads on the chalk board. The messages may include:

   Smoking/chewing will make you look cool.
   Smoking/chewing will make you thin.
   Smoking/chewing will make you successful.
   Smoking/chewing will make you get a girlfriend/boyfriend.
   Smoking/chewing will make you sexy.
   Smoking/chewing will make you glamorous.
   Smoking/chewing will make you popular.
   Smoking/chewing will make you athletic.

7. Write the following words on the board and discuss their meanings. Do the students think the tobacco companies use any of these techniques?
   • Normalizing - presenting a product as a normal part of everyday life
   • Glamorizing - presenting a product as glamorous, romantic, or cool
   • Targeting - carefully selecting advertising messages to appeal to a certain group of people
8. Discuss: Do the students think they are influenced by advertising?
9. Explain that companies spend billions and billions of dollars each year on advertising for one reason and one reason only: because it works. For example: In 1988, before the creation of Joe Camel, Camel cigarettes sold $6 million worth of cigarettes to underage smokers. In 1990, after Joe Camel permeated billboards, magazines, and T-shirts, that figure rose to $476 million!
10. Explain that the students will be launching a counter-advertising campaign. Each group will be making a poster to display in the room or the school. Each group should select one of the key messages and create a poster with a counter message. For example, the poster may state: "Smoking won't make you thin, but it may turn you into a skeleton" "Smoking won't make you funny, but it will make you phlegmy" "Smoking won't make you cool, but it may make you cold." Some of the effects of smoking that students may want to include on their posters include:
    • Mouth - lesions, phlegm production, bad breath, loss of sense of taste
    • Throat - cancer, loss of speaking ability
    • Teeth - yellow and stained
    • Hands and Feet - body temperature decreases below normal, circulation is impaired
    • Skin - wrinkles faster than a non-smoker, some discoloration
    • Heart - heart disease
    • Lungs - respiratory illnesses, including asthma, cancer, and emphysema
    • Circulatory system - increase in blood pressure, pulse rate
    • Nerve endings - stunted growth
    • Reproductive organs - sperm count may decrease, infertility, risk of miscarriages increases
    • Bladder and kidneys - chance of cancer increases
    • General - bad smell on clothes and hair, risk of starting unintentional fires
11. Distribute poster board, scissors, glue, markers (etc.) and give the students the remainder of the class period to work on their posters. You may want to give them an additional class period to finish the posters or assign them as homework.
12. Display the posters in the class or in the school.