The national truth campaign has exposed U.S. youth to antismoking messages since 2000. Tobacco industry-sponsored campaigns, such as "Think. Don't Smoke" (TDS), have also aired nationally. We examine the effects of recall of the truth and TDS campaigns on changes in tobacco-related beliefs, intentions, and smoking initiation in a longitudinal survey of U.S. youth. Recall of truth(R) was associated with increased agreement with antismoking beliefs, decreased smoking intentions, and lower rates of smoking initiation. Recall of TDS was associated with increased intentions to smoke soon but was not significantly associated with tobacco beliefs or smoking initiation among youth overall.
Keywords: Youth smoking prevention; antismoking media campaigns; smoking initiation.