OPPapers.com

Adolescent Substance Abuse

Playing with Children's Minds:
The Psychological Effects of Tobacco Advertisements on Children

Table of Contents

• How do Tobacco Advertisers Apply Behavioral Learning Principles in Ads?

• What Psychological Tactics do Advertisers Use to Get Children to Buy Their Products?

• How Effective are the Psychological Tactics Used in Tobacco Ads in Getting Children to Purchase Their Products?

How do Tobacco Advertisers
Apply Behavioral Learning Principles in Ads?

Having a better understanding and a clearer picture of why adolescents decide to smoke and the development of successful countermeasures are very valuable issues in the public health and social marketing fields today. (Craig 2004)
In trying to determine why adolescents smoke demographic analyses say that there is more of a tendency for older, Caucasian, male youths who are not in school to smoke than there is for other adolescent groups (Jamieson and Romer 2001). Other possible predictors of adolescent smoking consist of social influence (friends or family effects), prior smoking behavior, and imagery portrayed in tobacco advertising (Aloise - Young, Graham, and Hansen 1994; Pechmann and Knight 2002).
Behavioral learning principles apply to many marketing situations. George Perlov, a member of advertising council, stated, "Advertising is an art and a science" (Coffman, 2002). It may be used to create a distinctive brand image or it may link a product to an underlying need. According to Arnett (2001) almost all smoking initiation takes place during adolescence, and the appeal of cigarette advertising is frequently proposed as one of the reasons adolescents begin smoking. (p 425) To better understand how tobacco advertisers create ads using psychology to change children's buying behavior, this paper will briefly discuss two behavioral theories in the following section.
One behavioral learning theory used by tobacco advertisers is classical...