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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2006.097006v1 97/8/1383    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ibrahim, J. K. Articles by Glantz, S. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ibrahim, J. K. Articles by Glantz, S. A. Related Collections Tobacco Control Media

Jennifer K. Ibrahim, PhD, MPH, MA and Stanton A. Glantz, PhD

Jennifer K. Ibrahim is with the Department of Public Health at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. Stanton A. Glantz is with the School of Medicine and the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Jennifer K. Ibrahim, PhD, Temple University, 1700 N Broad St, Rm 304D, Philadelphia, PA 19122 (e-mail: jibrahim{at}temple.edu).

Extensive research has demonstrated that public education through media campaigns is an effective means to reduce smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption. Aggressive media campaigns that confront the tobacco industry’s deceptive practices are most effective and are therefore a prime target for attack. The tobacco industry has attacked public tobacco control media campaigns since 1967, when the first public tobacco control media advertisements ran.

Through studying tobacco control media campaigns in Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Oregon, and of the American Legacy Foundation, we identified industry strategies to prevent a campaign’s creation, limit the target audience and the content of the messages, limit or eliminate the campaign’s funding, and pursue litigation against the campaigns.

Tobacco control advocates must learn from the past and continue to confront the tobacco industry and its third-party allies to defend antitobacco media campaigns or, despite evidence of their effectiveness, they will be eliminated.