Portfolious

In 1998 the government stepped in and made the tobacco industry promise that it wouldn’t direct their advertising and marketing towards underage teens.  However, recent studies have shown an increase in teen smoking and researchers found that the source is Camel cigarettes.

The controversial advertisements are for R.J. Reynold’s Camel No. 9 cigarettes and that were featured in popular women’s magazines like Vogue, Glamour and Lucky in 2007.  The ads were made to blend in with the pages of a fashion magazine. The cigarettes are featured with dresses, shoes, jewelry and purses.  Basically the cigarettes were mixed with fashion items that teen girls would find appealing.

“The ads had a lot imagery that is girl-like,” says Cheryl Healton with the American Legacy Foundation, an anti-tobacco advocacy group. “The cigarettes were described as light and luscious and featured pink packaging. Making them almost like candy.”

Over the course of several years, the girls were asked, “What is the name of the cigarette brand of your favorite cigarette advertisement?”  In 2004, 10 percent of girls chose Camel as their favorite brand.  In 2008, a year after R.J. Reynolds launched its new female friendly campaign, 22 percent of girls chose Camel as their favorite brand.

“The majority of these kids had not reported a favorite ad before,” says the study’s author, John Pierce with the University of Southern California-San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center.

This increase has public health officials concerned.  Studies have found that teens who can tell you the name of the brand of their favorite cigarette ad are 50 percent more likely to take up smoking in the next three years.

When asked their thoughts the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company said that it “adheres to numerous restrictions on how it markets its tobacco products and does not take any action to target youth.” The company’s statement goes on to say, “Camel No. 9 was developed in response to female adult smokers…who were asking for a product that better reflected their taste preferences and style.”

Pierce estimates Camel’s 2007 marketing campaign may have influenced 174,000 underage girls to start smoking.

SOURCE: http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/15/was-it-a-cigarette-ad-campaign-that-worked-on-teenagers/

This taboo topic has been a source of controversy for decades.  Do we teach our children about having safe sex?  Or teach them not to have sex at all?  We never knew which was more effective at decreasing teen pregnancies and the transmission of sexual diseases, until now.

In this landmark study, recently published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found that abstinence only sex education programs are more effective than other initiatives at keeping young students from having sex. The average age of the participants in the study was 12.2 years, and 53.5 percent were female.  The population of the study included 662 students in sixth and seventh grade. 

Researchers were interested in finding the effectiveness of two programs including abstinence only and safe sex education.  Prior research tells us that adolescents who initiate intercourse at younger ages (12-14) have a greater risk of sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancy and also report having sex with multiple partners.

The study found that only 30 percent of the students who received an eight hour abstinence lesson participated in sexual intercourse within two years.

In contrast, 50 percent of the students that received an eight hour lesson on safe sex, condoms and birth control methods had sexual intercourse within two years. 

Even though President Obama cut funding for abstinence only programs for 2010, the federal government had been investing heavily in abstinence education since 1996.

All teenagers are at an increased risk of contracting HIV, sexually transmitted infections and having teen pregnancies, however, another study noted that the risk is greatest among African Americans.  Close to 70 percent of adolescents with HIV are African American.  Rates of sexually transmitted infections and teen pregnancy are highest among African American adolescents.

The results of the two studies gives educators the information needed to teach our children sex education in the most effective way.  Progress requires not only good programs in schools and in the community, but also informed and active parents, good health services, and reaffirmed values.

SOURCE:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/02/abstinence.study/index.html