Three teens unmoved by anti-tobacco commercials
05/01/00
The TV commercials show a succession of teen-agers sarcastically ``thanking'' the tobacco industry for targeting the young to become smokers.
But the messages did not blow away three smoking students at the St. Paul Area Learning Center when asked last week to review the new anti-smoking campaign.
Waeil Kattaria of St. Paul, John Vanderhoff of Maplewood and Jeff Rowe of St. Paul, all 17-year-old students who have been smoking for four to five years, said the commercials had no effect on them.
``I plan to go have a cigarette in five minutes, after we're done here,'' said Vanderhoff, who smokes about a pack a day.
``I can't see it stopping me,'' added Rowe, who also smokes a pack a day. ``When I want to stop, I'll stop. When a family member dies, that might give me a reason.''
The teen-agers were looking for a more compelling message.
Cigarettes
