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A field study exposed 235 high school students to anti-smoking advertisements over a fivemonth period to test the effectiveness of short-term cosmetic versus long-term health fear appeals in preventing or reducing smoking. The study was a longitudinal experiment with two experimental groups and a control group. Smoking behaviour was measured prior to message exposure on television, in magazines and on the internet, and at the end of the study period. The primary results were that average smoking declined for subjects exposed to either type of anti-smoking fear appeal but not for the control group and short-term cosmetic fear appeals were more effective for males but long-term health fear appeals were more effective for females.

Predictor variables previously examined in separate studies (prior beliefs, peer pressure, family smoking, advertising, and antismoking information) were combined in a single study, surveying 246 adolescents. The variables were found to be significant predictors of smoking level, but the importance of each predictor varied by grade level, gender, and ethnicity. Overall, family smoking behavior, peer pressure, and prior beliefs were more important in predicting smoking level than were advertising and antismoking information. Public policy implications are discussed. U.S. tobacco companies, especially R. J. Reynolds Tobacco (RJR), have faced and are currently under charges that they intentionally target adolescents as young as fourteen in their advertising campaigns. From 1973 to 1990 R. J. Reynolds produced internal corporate communications and marketing actions that focused on persuading young people to smoke RJR brands, including Camel and Winston, according to a government probe (Mintz and Tony 1998). This finding, among other charges, led the U.S. Government to pursue and settle a lawsuit against tobacco companies. In addition, lawsuits by individual states have been filed to recoup billions of dollars in medical costs to treat tobacco-related diseases. The states of Texas, Florida, Minnesota, and Mississippi settled lawsuits totalling $40 billion to be paid over twenty-five years (Meier 1998).One result of the recent (1998) settlement of the Government's case against tobacco companies is that the industry must pay $206 billion to forty-six states over twenty-five years to settle lawsuits, including $250 million over ten years to study ways to reduce teen smoking and to meet strict goals for reducing smoking in the U.S. The settlement eliminates billboard ads and brand names in sports stadiums. The tobacco industry is also prohibited from using cartoon characters in tobacco ads, from selling apparel and merchandise with brand name logos, and from placing

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