The Power of Theme and Language in Multi‑Cultural Communities

ABSTRACT This article reports on an experiment conducted that tested anti-tobacco advertising strategies aimed at a bicultural Mexican-American youth audience. The direct effects of three advertising themes (negative health consequences, social norms against smoking, and tobacco industry manipulation) and three language executions (English, Spanish, and “Spanglish”) on adolescent Hispanics9 evaluations of the advertisements were examined using a multilevel modeling approach. Additionally, participant-level measures for acculturation and tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors as potential moderators were included. Although all the tested advertisements were viewed favorably, results suggest that a negative health theme may be most effective in a community-wide campaign because it evokes the least amount of counter-arguing among smokers while, at the same time, eliciting positive evaluations from nonsmokers. Results also support the use of either Spanglish or English in the design of anti-tobacco advertising aimed at Mexican-American youths. The study contributes to practical knowledge by examining these factors in stimuli with a high level of ecological validity.