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Cigarette Marketing Practices in Retail Stores Associated with Teen Smoking Habits |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Tobacco display advertising in retail stores appears to be associated with teens experimenting with cigarette smoking, while promotional giveaways and price breaks may be associated with the transition to regular smoking among youth, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Certain types of cigarette marketing that may appeal to young people, including advertisements that use cartoon characters, were banned as part of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies. Evidence suggests the tobacco industry may be turning to retail stores for marketing efforts. "In fact, in 2003, the tobacco industry spent $14.2 billion on retail advertising and price and other promotions, which accounts for 94 percent of all its 2003 advertising and promotional spending," the authors note. Based on their responses, students were divided into levels of smoking uptake, which range from puffers (who have smoked once or twice) to current established smokers (who either smoked regularly at the time of the survey or smoked regularly in the past and at least occasionally during the past 30 days). "Advertising increased the likelihood of youth initiating smoking, price increased the likelihood of smoking at most levels of uptake and availability of promotions increased the likelihood that youth will move from experimentation to regular smoking." "Overall, our results provide evidence that restricting point-of-sale advertising will discourage youth from trying smoking, and policies that increase cigarette prices and/or restrict price-based promotions will have a long-term positive impact by preventing youth from moving farther along the smoking uptake continuum toward regular smoking," they conclude.
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