Forever cool: the influence of smoking imagery on young people

Citation

Hastings G & Angus K (2008) Forever cool: the influence of smoking imagery on young people. Roycroft G (Editor) British Medical Association - Board of Science. British Medical Association. http://bmaopac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/exlibris/aleph/a23_1/apache_media/EP3ASUAF4E5FNN96GPXLUETHL2H4XK.pdf

Abstract
First paragraph: Young people are greatly influenced by their sense of what is normal and attractive; and this in turn is affected by the messages and imagery attached to different behaviours. Thus, particular fashions, music styles and forms of recreation become more or less popular over time. Young people's smoking is susceptible to these same forces, but in this case the associated imagery seems, for some young people at least, to remain consistently positive. This capacity to remain 'forever cool' belies the reality: smoking continues to be the leading cause of ill health and premature death in the UK.

People

Ms Kathryn Angus

Research Officer, Institute for Social Marketing

Professor Gerard Hastings

Emeritus Professor, Institute for Social Marketing