SummaryIndividual interviews were conducted with 433 Glasgow children aged between 10 and 17. The findings were consistent with previous research in indicating that children are much more aware and appreciative of alcohol advertising than adults realize. They were particularly appreciative of television commercials for mass‐produced lagers. This is consistent with previous research in indicating that commercials for alcoholic drinks aimed at older teenagers and young adults present qualities that younger teenagers find attractive. There were consistent and important differences between under‐age drinkers and non‐drinkers. Under‐age drinkers were more adept at recognising and identifying brand imagery in alcohol commercials. This suggests they tend to pay more attention to alcohol commercials. Under‐age drinkers also tended to be more appreciative of television advertisements for alcoholic drinks. This suggests they get more pleasure out of alcohol commercials. In other words, television alcohol commercials are reinforcing under‐age drinking.

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Interviews were conducted with 848 Glasgow children aged between 11 and 14 years. There were consistent differences between smokers and non-smokers. Smokers tended to be more adept at recalling, recognizing and identifying cigarette advertisements. This suggests they tend to pay more attention to cigarette advertising. Smokers also tended to be generally more appreciative of cigarette advertising. Moreover, this greater awareness and appreciation of cigarette advertising was independent of other important predictors of under-age smoking, such as smoking by peers, siblings and parents. These findings, taken in conjunction with previous research, indicate that cigarette advertising is reinforcing under-age smoking. The smokers showed an enhanced or heightened preference for Kensitas Club, the brand favoured by adults. This is consistent with previous research indicating that promotional devices which help determine and reinforce adult cigarette brand preferences have an even greater effect on under-age smokers.

Random polygons were ranked in terms of complexity, pleasingness, and interestingness. Group judgments of pleasingness and interestingness increased with complexity, with the former reaching an asymptote at a lower level than the latter. However, most of the individual pleasingness functions were unimodal: some decreased with complexity, some increased, and others increased to a peak and then decreased. Although most of the interestingness functions increased to peaks over the higher levels of complexity, 5s who judged the low-middle levels as most interesting tended to judge the higher levels as progressively less interesting. There was also a positive correlation between the levels of complexity found most pleasing and the levels found most interesting. The results are discussed with reference to theories of preference behavior proposed by Dember and Earl and by Berlyne.

Individu7l interviews were conducted with 726 Glasgow children aged between 6 and 17. Then responses to questions about a set of cigarette advertisements indicate that the majority of primary school chtldren are well aware of cigarette advertising; and many can correctly identify cigarette brands in 'puzzle advertisements which do not show brand names. , , . • • " Previous qualitative research suggests that an adult-like perception of the tmagery tn cigarette advertisements develops over the years 10 to 14. The present survey findings addtothtsby -'SSescmgJ^m any older primary school children have a rudimentary or marginal awareness of the -brand personalities projected in oblique cigarette advertisements permitted in the U.K.,t u u ^ «th mong the secondary school children, proportionally more smokers than non-smokers said th^had seen the advertisements; and proportionally more smokers identified the -puzzle'advertisements. These findings suggest that cigarette advertising is getting through to young people, and to under-age smokers in particular.