A man approaches a woman in a bar but turns on his heels instantly when she flashes a big grin, revealing nicotine stained teeth from heavy smoking.

This is one of TV's anti-smoking public service messages that registered on many viewers' minds, which, according to a recent study, can cause smokers to try and quit the bad habit.

"I remember that ad," said Park Min-seok, a university student in Seoul. "It was funny and at the same time serious. It was a turnoff for me to watch the lady on the screen having bad teeth because of smoking. To be honest, that ad really got me thinking about whether to smoke or not."

Movies and advertisements often feature handsome actors in scenes that glamorize smoking. It is said that these kinds of scenes lure young adult viewers into mimicking their idols. But the anti-smoking ads have quite the opposite effect.

Since the Ministry of Health and Welfare is trying to curb the number of smokers in Korea, one of its key tools is the TV ads that tell viewers the reality that "smoking can kill you."

And those public ads have helped people stay away from flicking lighters for a smoke.

A total of 46 percent who viewed last year's anti-smoking trilogy on TV indicated that they wanted to try and break the bad habit after watching the ads, according to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA).

The figure is 7 percent higher than the 39 percent who didn't watch the ads but still wanted to try and quit smoking.

The public health think tank surveyed 1,000 men and women aged between 15 and 30 on the effectiveness of the government's anti-smoking TV ads.

The three-part series featured lovers in one episode, a mother and daughter in another and a married couple in the third — all facing difficulties due to smoking.

"TV ads by the ministry in the past have been too formal and educational," said Suh Mee-kyung, a KIHASA researcher. "So the government tried a different approach to appeal more to the public, especially young adults, as part of an effort to lower the number of smokers. So they tried to make public ads look more like commercial ads that closely mirror today's trends and fads."

"Anti-smoking ads and posters, I believe, do drive home the seriousness of smoking," said Ryu Min-gi, an office worker in Seoul. "They're all for a good cause. But it really depends on an individual's will to quit. Someone like me, I feel it's the one way to blow off some steam while working in a stressful environment."