"Don't do it" is the wrong message to send teenagers if you want them not to gamble, a new study says.

Based on 30 focus groups with teenagers in southeastern Ontario and Montreal, two researchers concluded that it's easy for ad campaigns designed to discourage certain behaviours to run afoul of the target audience.

Carmen Messerlian and Jeffrey Derevensky concluded that teenagers:

• Reject one-sided campaigns as unrealistic.
• Don't respond to don't do it.
• Get bored with ads that are repeated too often.

In an anti-gambling campaign, the teenagers thought ads that focused on the negatives — loss of sleep, missing school or work, harm to friends and family, emotional stress and financial costs — would be most effective.

They also said they were concerned that the government makes money from gambling.

And the gambling industry didn't escape criticism.

"You should also discuss industry manipulation … how they lure us to gamble and make so much money off gambling," a Grade 10 girl said.

Real-life stories told in school assemblies by teenagers who had gambled would help dispel the idea that gambling isn't harmful, the students said.

Other approaches received support from some of the teenagers. For example, "denormalization" — showing there are more losers than winners — could offset ads and TV shows that promote or encourage gambling.

Fear and shock, in moderation, could be effective, some teens said.

"Unexpectedly, several groups suggested a responsible gambling message as being a more appropriate strategy, given that it would better reflect the reality of youth gambling," the authors wrote.

TV was deemed to be the best medium for an anti-gambling message, followed by radio. There are too many magazines to know where to advertise, and teenagers ignore print ads, they said.

The teens saw internet ads as annoying and ineffective, given the large number of gambling pop-up ads.

The study was published in the March/April issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health.