The influence of celebrity exemplars on college students' smoking

ABSTRACT

Objective: This study examined the effect of celebrity smoking exemplars in health news on college students' perceptions of smoking-related health risks and smoking intentions. Participants and Methods: The data were collected using a Web-based survey of 219 undergraduate students at a large midwestern university in March 2011. Separate analyses of covariance were conducted. Results: The influence of negative exemplars of celebrity smoking on perceptions of smoking-related health risks and smoking intentions varied according to smoking status. Ever-smokers who read smoking news with negative exemplars of celebrity smoking were more likely than ever-smokers who read the same news absent any exemplar to report higher levels of perceptions of smoking-related health risks and lower levels of smoking intentions. However, these patterns were not found in never-smokers. Conclusions: Exemplification theory enhanced by the celebrity element may be effectively applied as a strategy to change health behavior in college students.

KEYWORDS:

• Antismoking messaging
• celebrity
• college student
• exemplar
• exemplification theory
• smoking

Conflict of interest disclosure

The author has no conflicts of interest to report. The author confirms that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.