Unexpected persuasion: The influence of a youth-targeted anti-smoking campaign on adults' attitude toward smoking cessation.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the impact of exposure to a youth-targeted anti-smoking campaign on adults' attitude toward smoking cessation, considering their smoking status. Study design: Exposure to the anti-smoking campaign was treated as the independent variable, while attitude toward smoking cessation served as the dependent variable. Smoking status (non-smokers vs. smokers) and target group (youth vs. adults) were included as binary moderators in the analysis. Methods: A stratified random sampling approach was employed to select a total of 4758 respondents (2560 adults and 2198 youth) who completed structured questionnaires. These questionnaires assessed respondents' exposure to the anti-smoking campaign, their attitude toward smoking cessation, smoking status, and demographic information. Results: The findings indicated that exposure to the campaign was positively associated with more favorable attitude toward smoking cessation. Non-smokers exhibited stronger attitude toward smoking cessation compared to smokers. Additionally, exposure to the campaign led to an increase in smoking cessation attitude across all groups, with adults showing more pronounced changes in attitude relative to youth. Conclusion: Unintended persuasive effects were observed among non-target groups, highlighting the need for further investigation into the relationship between targeted messages and their impact on non-target audiences. Such research could enhance the development of more effective and efficient public health campaigns.