According to a research paper done by The Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, ads aimed at teens to stop smoking, which were sponsored by tobacco companies, only encouraged teens to start smoking, as reported by HealthScout News. But then, that wasn't hard to figure out.

The research focused on television ratings data from 75 media markets in the US, as well as US national school-based survey data from more than 100,000 children from 1992 to 2002. The research found that among high school students, seeing parent-targeted ads was associated with kids just wanting to smoke even more.

The researchers also noted (somehow I feel that the researchers were dripping with irony on this one) that based on Congressional testimony, this is what at least one company intended. During questioning at a trial, a director of Philip Morris youth smoking prevention programs admitted that the aim of their programs was to delay smoking until age 18."

Maybe it also had something to do with the ads themselves? "Tobacco is Whacko if You're a Teen," goes one ad. Trust me: that line doesn't work. Better off showing the blackened lungs picture to kids to gross them out early or something.

Now I don't really have a problem with people who choose to light up (just not in an enclosed space, please). Whatever floats your boat. I don't smoke either - my only vice is excessive alcohol. But honestly, who comes up with lines like "Tobacco is Whacko"? I know I suck at poetry, but that was really just half-hearted. Then again, would we expect any industry to kill off its customers? Pun intended.