Study of 15 Indian anti-tobacco ads identifies messages and themes from interviews with 20 young adults

A two-phase qualitative study examined 15 anti-tobacco advertisements hosted on India’s National Tobacco Control Programme website and explored how 20 young adults perceived those advertisements. The study’s abstract reports that most advertisements targeted smoking products and conveyed enactments or advisories, with recurring messages that tobacco kills at a young age, smoking is dangerous, tobacco destroys homes and people should stop using tobacco.

For the first phase, researchers conducted a preliminary content analysis of the advertisements using descriptive and inductive thematic analysis. They then presented the advertisements to a purposively sampled group of 20 young adults in qualitative in-depth interviews. Interview data were analysed thematically with both inductive and deductive coding. This design assessed the content of the selected advertisements and participants’ reported views of them; it did not measure changes in tobacco use, cessation outcomes or the population-level effectiveness of the advertisements.

Interviews with the 20 participants generated five broad themes concerning the advertisements: perceived impact and durability, trust, accessibility and efficiency, the paradox of intense imagery, audience representation, and message fatigue with limited actionable guidance. The abstract does not quantify the prevalence of these themes, provide verbatim quotations or report demographic breakdowns for the interview sample. Accordingly, the findings represent qualitative perceptions from a small, purposively selected group rather than estimates of reactions among all young adults in India.

The researchers concluded that the advertisements could be strengthened through better demographic and cultural representation, less message repetition and clearer guidance on accessing cessation support such as quitlines and tobacco cessation centres. These suggestions arose from the study’s combined content and interview findings. Because the analysis covered 15 selected advertisements and interviews involved only 20 young adults, the reported themes should not be interpreted as evidence of nationwide campaign performance, a measured decline in impact or a causal relationship between particular advertisements and smoking behaviour.

Subject of Research: Content and young-adult perceptions of Indian anti-tobacco advertisements

Article Title: Anti-tobacco advertisements in India: insights from content analysis and young adults’ perceptions

Article References: Venugopal, S., Maniyara, K., Kuppusamy, A., Ekram, A., & Kodali, P. B. (2026). Anti-tobacco advertisements in India: insights from content analysis and young adults’ perceptions. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-29938-x

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-026-29938-x

Keywords: anti-tobacco advertising, India, young adults, qualitative interviews, content analysis, tobacco control, health messaging, cessation support, Anti-tobacco, advertisements, insights, content