Perceptions and the truth
Did you know the average youth spends 6.5 hours interacting with media everyday?
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The media knows
this and they use it to their advantage.
A new study in
The Journal of Pediatrics
reported that students who viewed e-cigarette ads were more
likely to use these devices. Specifically, an analysis of data from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey
showed that high school students who routinely saw e-cigarette ads online were 71 percent more likely
to use the devices than their peers who never saw those ads. Similarly, high school students who viewed
e-cigarette ads on TV and in the movies were 54 percent more likely to use e-cigarettes compared to
other teens who did not view these ads. Have you seen e-cigarette or marijuana ads?
Advertisers have begun to experiment with new techniques. One such technique is stealth advertising,
in which marketers attempt to make an ad look like, well, not an ad. The theory behind the new
technique is that advertising is most effective when consumers do not recognize it as advertising. If
consumers let their guard down, they will be more open to persuasive arguments about the product.
Using this approach, marketers try to blur the line between the advertisement and the content.
Stealth advertising is allowed only in media like online venues, where it might appear in forms such as
“advergames” or online viral video content. Keep your eye open for subtle advertising of e-cigarettes
or marijuana.
Although a large majority of Washington state teens do not use e-cigarettes or marijuana, the
perception among many teens is that most do. Humans are social creatures and tend to behave in
the way they perceive the majority of their peers behaving, and teens are no exception. However,
perceptions are often wrong, and can lead teens to think something like using marijuana is more
common than it really is. Sometimes stories that capture the most attention may involve “smoking a ton
of weed,” or “drinking so much they threw up.” This tendency to retell only the most extreme stories has
the unintended consequence of distorting what teens believe is “normal” behavior among their peers.
Teens can arm themselves against misperceptions of what is considered “normal” marijuana behavior
by looking at good data. They can also share with their friends what the actual norm is regarding teens
and marijuana use at their school or in their community, which is most do not use marijuana. The data is
clear: according to the 2014 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey, about 3 out of every 4 high school
seniors do
not
use marijuana.
Mercer Island High School in King County has a substance abuse prevention club on campus that is
using the power of “social norms” to try to correct the misperceptions about alcohol and other drugs
and alcohol. The more youth who understand that it is normal among their peers to not use substances
or make destructive decisions, the more who will make healthy decisions themselves.
ACTIVITY
Write or draw a picture of where you see marijuana
and e-cigarette advertising in your community.
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13%
33%
27%
6% 9% 7%
Current (past 30-day) Substance Use, Washington State 12th
Grade Students, Washington State Healthy Youth Survey 2014
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
% of students
Cigarettes Alcohol
Marijuana
Pain
killers to
get high
Prescrip-
tion drugs,
not pre-
scribed
All other
illegal
drug use**
Most youth don’t use marijuana, alcohol or other substances.
Poster showing that most 6th-12th grade students on Mercer Island in
King County, Washington have never used marijuana.
**All other illegal drug use includes prescription drugs not prescribed, prescription painkillers to get high, and all
other illegal drugs; but does not include alcohol, tobacco or marijuana. Source:
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