Mark Bowden

About the author: Mark Bowden is a writer for the Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service.

According to a 2002 survey of teenagers, the multimillion-dollar antismoking campaign, "Think. Don't Smoke." actually encourages teens to smoke. Teens are commonly known to be drawn to activities they are told not to do. Many teens view cigarettes as having the added attraction of offering a sense of freedom and sexual maturity. Teens often admire the rebelliousness and defiance that is associated with smoking. The best way to curb teen smoking, then, is to stop making smoking attractive to teens by treating it as taboo.

Anew survey of teenagers has shown that a multimillion-dollar antismoking campaign, the "Think. Don't Smoke" ads, actually encourages them to smoke cigarettes.

Well duh! I could have saved Philip Morris a lot...