Effect of ending an antitobacco youth campaign on adolescent susceptibility to cigarette smoking--Minnesota, 2002-2003.

The majority of persons who become regular cigarette smokers begin smoking during adolescence. Comprehensive state antitobacco programs, especially those with strong advertising (i.e., paid media) campaigns, have contributed to the substantial decline in adolescent smoking since 1997. In Minnesota, annual funding for tobacco-control programs was reduced from $23.7 million to $4.6 million in July 2003, ending the Target Market (TM) campaign directed at youths since 2000. To assess the effects of cutting the state's tobacco-control funding, during November-December 2003, the University of Miami School of Medicine surveyed Minnesota adolescents aged 12-17 years to determine their awareness of the TM campaign and their susceptibility to smoking. These data were compared with results from previous surveys. This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicated that the percentage of adolescents who were aware of the TM campaign declined from 84.5% during July-August 2003 to 56.5% during November-December 2003, and the percentage of adolescents susceptible to cigarette smoking increased from 43.3% to 52.9%. These findings underscore the need to maintain adequate funding of state antitobacco programs to prevent tobacco use among youths.