While there is evidence attesting to the success of social norm interventions in reducing alcohol consumption among college students, some social norm theorists and practitioners have begun to turn their attention to the systematic examination of norm marketing interventions that have met with limited success. In a recent study, researchers found that students did not understand the message and that the message and image used in the media presentations were incongruent. In addition, it was suggested that there could be a number of factors that account for social norm campaigns that experience limited or no success including confusing media images, unreliable message sources, and insufficient dosage. The majority of the research has focused on evaluative questions of outcome and impact with very little research examining college students’ reactions to the messages being marketed to them through such interventions. This study was designed to offer an analysis of student reaction to social norm marketing. Data for the study were collected from 871 randomly selected undergraduate students attending a small private university. Baseline data were collected from a sample of 432 students, while follow-up data were collected from 439 students who had been exposed to a 7-month long social norm marketing intervention. The Core Alcohol and Drug Survey was used to collect the majority of the data. Students in the follow-up year received a supplemental questionnaire the included items related to a student’s perception of drinking by various groups on campus as well as an overall estimate of the percentage of students who drink five or more drinks in a sitting. In the fall of 2000, the social norm marketing campaign was officially set into motion and over the next several months, various marketing strategies were employed to disseminate the normative messages. Analysis of the data indicates that there was widespread exposure to the normative messages, with almost 85 percent of the students reporting having seen a social norm message on alcohol use at least once or twice per week throughout the 7-month period. Almost half of the students reported seeing the messages on a daily basis, suggesting that the campaign was highly successful in exposing students to the messages. Despite this success, comparison between the baseline data and follow-up data indicated little change in the perceived campus drinking norm or in reported alcohol use by students after the intervention. A gender effect was noted in the analysis with female students experiencing declines in alcohol use. This lack of success may be explained by the fact that most students reacted negatively to the messages, with less than 35 percent reacting favorably and only 20 percent motivated by the messages to discuss them with other students. Twelve percent of the students reported that the messages altered their perception of student use and only 2 percent thought their own use patterns were affected. These low rates may result from the fact that the majority of the students simply did not believe the messages being marketed to them. The findings of this study lend partial support for social norm marketing, yet they also raise important questions about the believability of the social norms campaign. The fact that most students did not believe the campaign has important implications for future prevention efforts and for a more general understanding of the emergence of norms through marketing strategies. 29 references,2 tables and author note