Unintended adverse effects of advertising for nicotine replacement therapies

自1997年以来，帮助人们戒烟的某些药品（尼古丁替代疗法（NRT））的广告已经在澳大利亚被允许。抗抑郁药Zyban被发现对戒烟有帮助，但在澳大利亚还没有被允许做广告，尽管在海外是允许的。由于这类广告所触及的对象将超过准备戒烟的重度吸烟者这一主要目标群体，因此考虑其他尚未准备戒烟和有吸烟风险的吸烟者的反应是很重要的。人们担心这些人群可能会产生“自食其果”效应，尽管这是无意的，因为他们可能会放心，有一种有效的戒烟方法，所以不急于戒烟，他们可能会在真正准备好之前尝试戒烟，而对于青少年来说，他们可能会认为这些产品使戒烟变得容易，所以开始吸烟的问题就少了。为了评估是否如此，我们将随机将尚未准备戒烟的吸烟者和青少年分配到(a)一组，他们在一组中看到3个宣传非药物戒烟方法的广告，如戒烟热线（Quitline）， (b)一组中看到3个宣传NRT口香糖或贴片的广告，或(c)一组中看到3个宣传Zyban戒烟方法的广告。这项研究将使用问卷来评估，与那些观看非毒品禁烟广告的人相比，那些观看NRT或Zyban广告的人是否认为吸烟不那么容易上瘾，更不愿意戒烟，或者在青少年的情况下，更愿意吸烟。该项目将是评估NRT和Zyban广告对尚未准备戒烟的吸烟者和尚未成为常规吸烟者的青少年是否可能产生不利影响的第一个正式研究。出于这个原因，这项研究将有助于评估这类广告的风险，并将其与对准备戒烟的吸烟者的既定益处进行比较。

Advertising for certain pharmaceutical products (nicotine replacement therapy( NRT)) to help people quit smoking has been permitted in Australia since 1997. Zyban, an antidepressant drug, has been found to be helpful in quitting smoking, but advertising has not yet been permitted in Australia although it is allowed overseas. Because such advertising will reach more than the primary target group of heavy smokers ready to quit, it is important to consider the responses of other smokers who are not ready to quit and those at risk of taking up smoking. There is concern that there may be 'boomerang' effects, albeit unintended, on these population groups, because they may feel reassured that there is an effective method to quit and so be in no rush to quit soon, they may try to quit using these products before they are really ready, and in the case of teenagers, they may think that these products make it easy to quit, so there is less problem with starting to smoke. In order to assess if this is so, we will randomly allocate smokers not yet ready to quit and teenagers to either (a) a group where they view 3 ads promoting non-drug methods of quitting, such as the Quitline, (b) a group where they view 3 ads promoting the NRT gum or patch, or (c) a group where they view 3 ads promoting Zyban as a method for quitting. The study will use questionnaires to assess whether, compared with those viewing the non-drug anti-smoking ads, those viewing the NRT or Zyban ads think smoking is less addictive and have less intention to quit, or in the case of teenagers, have more intention to take up smoking. This project will be the first formal study to assess whether there may be adverse effects of NRT and Zyban advertising on smokers not yet ready to quit and teenagers who are not already regular smokers. For this reason, the study will help an assessment of the risks of such advertising compared with the established benefits for smokers who are ready to quit.