New Research Further Proves Efficacy of truth® Youth Smoking Prevention Campaign and Inefficacy of Philip Morris Campaign A recently published article reiterated past research that proved that teens that are exposed to the American Legacy Foundation's national truth® youth smoking prevention campaign are more likely to harbor negative feelings towards the tobacco industry and more likely to intend not to smoke. The study also found that teens that saw Philip Morris' "Think Don't Smoke" advertising campaign had more favorable beliefs and attitudes towards tobacco companies. "Once again, research shows the effectiveness of well-run independent smoking prevention campaigns versus those run by the tobacco industry," Dr. Cheryl Healton, CEO of the Foundation said. "We now have further confirmation that the truth® campaign has remained relevant and effective over an extended period." The article titled Sustaining 'truth': changes in youth tobacco attitudes and smoking intentions after 3 years of a national antismoking campaign written by Matthew C. Farrelly, Kevin C. Davis, Jennifer Duke and Peter Messeri was published in Health Education Research and examines the effect of the truth® campaign and Philip Morris's campaign on influencing youth tobacco-related attitudes, beliefs and intentions during the first three years of the truth® campaign. The study expands on previous research, published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2002, that then only looked at a ten-month period of the campaign. More than 35,000 young people from ages 12-17 were polled on their attitudes towards the two campaigns as part of this latest round of research. In both studies, nine tobacco-related belief and attitude items were examined, including such points as "cigarette companies lie," "not smoking is a way to express independence," and "taking a stand against smoking is important to me." Exposure to the truth®campaign was associated with steady, positive changes in attitudes, beliefs, and intentions to smoke. While more favorable beliefs and attitudes towards tobacco companies were linked to teens exposed to the Philip Morris' ads, findings did suggest that those same ads did not directly dilute the positive influence of the truth® campaign. The Health Education Research study reinforces previous research regard the efficacy of the truth® campaign including that the campaign may also be changing teens' perceptions about how common smoking is among their peers and that 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking during the first two years of the campaign (2000-2002) is directly attributable to truth®. This equates to 300,000 fewer youth smokers in 2002 as a result of the campaign. For the full article, click on the following link http://her.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/cym087?ijkey=Uvv8lGDtVp6QFIv&keytype=ref.