Report on a formative evaluation conducted for the Youth Against Tobacco counter marketing campaign

This paper reports the formative evaluation findings of a tobacco counter-marketing campaign and recommendations based on those findings. Focus groups were used w determine reactions to four messages for the Youth Against Tobacco (YAT) campaign. Participants aged eleven to eighteen years old, who resided in the metropolitan New Orleans area. were selected from area schools usiNg convenience sampling. Results indicated that while reactions w the messages were positive overall, some aspects of the messages seemed too complex to be used effectively in the campaign. These results helped to guide modification and selection of messages prior to use in the campaign