• My Masters program thesis project involved studying the reactions of middle school students to anti-smoking television ads. Some of the ads were created by public agencies or foundations, while others were produced by the Philip Morris tobacco company. The students did not know who produced each ad. The key significant finding of the small study was that students viewing Philip Morris ads were more likely to perceive a message of individual responsibility. In other words, industry ads were seen as saying that kids who start smoking have themselves to blame.

Consider The Source:

• Read my review of the Florida Tobacco Pilot Program in an academic research paper, Turning the Rebellion: How Florida is trying to incite teens against tobacco .( references )
• In December 1999, I wrote an update that reviews the cuts the Florida legislature madden the anti-smoking program, just after it reported a dramatic drop in teen smoking.

• The research on Florida and California's anti-tobacco efforts also led to an article that appeared on the cover of the August/September 1999 issue of InTouch magazine titled Can We Stop Teen Smoking?

• You can hear a discussion of the effectiveness of such campaigns on NPR's Talk of the Nation, hosted by Ray Suarez. Listen to the program from July 6, 1999 on  Anti-Smoking Campaigns or browse listener comments on the subject of anti-smoking campaigns.

• One way to reduce smoking is to raise tobacco taxes. Read a review of how a coalition of medical groups and traditional anti-smoking organizations united in a successful ballot initiative campaign to boost Oregon's tobacco tax , and thereby fund the state's Tobacco Prevention and Education Program .

• Following the rationale that "tobacco should be kept out of the reach of children," some communities have banned self-service tobacco displays that put cigarettes right in the faces of kids in stores. Read a blueprint for attracting media attention to a local effort to ban these displays, as well as facts about the problems caused by self-service tobacco displays .

• My research on tobacco control was begun during my tenure as a Media Fellow of the Kaiser Family Foundation.