Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Informing the community has an important place among the methods of tobacco struggle. One of the newest information techniques is anti-tobacco advertisements on TV. The Ministry of Health in Turkey has initiated anti-tobacco advertisements on TV to inform the community about the health effects of tobacco. This study aimed to identify some opinions of government employees about anti-tobacco advertisements.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this descriptive study, 202 administrative employees working at a governmental institution were reached. The questionnaire developed by the researchers was applied to the participants by using face-to-face interview techniques. During the interview, the picture of a moment from the advertisement was shown to the participants. The participants were asked if the picture reminded them of any advertisement on TV.

RESULTS: Most of the participants were men who had graduated from high school or university. Their mean age was 40±8.7. Almost half of the participants were smokers (45.5%). The prevalence of smoking among men was 45.9%, compared to 41.2% for women. The most common emotion felt after watching the antitobacco films was “sorry” (85.3%). The participants thought that the anti-tobacco advertisement films were motivating smokers to quit (75.5%) and informing people about the harmful effects of tobacco (85.7%). Six smokers out of ten wanted to quit smoking and 3 individuals actually quit smoking.

CONCLUSION: Anti-tobacco advertisements are thought to be an effective method for informing people about the harmful effects of smoking and motivating smokers to quit.