Tobacco Documents Online

The Tobacco Institute , 18151 Street, IVorthwest H'ashington, DC 20006 (800) 424-98i 6 ... ON YOUTH SMOKING TOBACCO ADVERTISING ... AND WHY KIDS SMOKE As anti-smoking advocates themselves have long acknowledged, and experience from around the world has confirmed, cigarette advertising has no significant'effect on the prevalence of smoking by young people and banning cigarette advertising wi'li not directly reduce youth smoking. A number of experts have explained in Congressional testimony that the purpose and function of advertising for any "mature" product like cigarettes is not to stimulate overall demand for the product category, but to (1) increase the market share of a particular brand at the expense of competing brands and (2) retain brand loyalty against other brands. o The President's Council of Economic Advisors said that tobacco product advertising "mainly shifts consumers among brands " o A study by researchers for the World Health Organization reported "no systematic differences" between the smoking behavior of young people in countries where tobacco advertising is completely banned and in countries where it is not. • In Finland, where tobacco product advertising has been banned completely since 1978, University of Helsinki researchers discovered that smoking among minors, which had been declining sharply before the ban was imposed, increased after the imposition of the ban - especially among teenage girls. In Sweden, where tobacco product advertising on billboards and in most other media was banned in 1979, smoking is on the rise among teenagers and their use of smokeless tobacco has nearly quadrupled since 1976. o Even Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, in his 25th anniversary report on smoking, did not claim there was a proven link between smoking and advertising. Instead, the Surgeon General acknowledged that there is "no scientifically rigorous study available to the public that provides a definitive answer to the basic question of whether advertising and promotion increase the level of tobacco consumption." The principal factors that impact youth smoking are peer pressure and parental/sibling influence. N © N N ~%j C1t ~ O ~

Advertising and Youth page 2 o In 1987, The President's Council of Economic Advisors made that point clear in their Annual Report to the President: "Studies of why people start smoking identify the influences of parents, siblings and friends as the most important factors." o The director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development told Congress in 1983 that, 'he most forceful determinants of smoking [by young people] are parents, peers and older siblings." For years, vigorous efforts have been made by the tobacco industry, government and other public and private organizations to discourage youth smoking. The 1989 Surgeon General's report states that the prevalence of daily smoking among high school seniors dropped from 29% to 20% between 1976 and 1983, and has fluctuated between 18% and 19% ever since. o The U.S. Surgeon General has frequently noted the close association between underage smoking and peer pressure. In 1987, for example, he said, "A variety of psychological influences may interact to influence some children to begin smoking." Yet foes of the tobacco industry - to support their calls for a ban on tobacco advertising - charge that tobacco advertising "causes" young people to start smoking. Prominent marketing experts are quick to dispute that claim. . o Dr. Scott Ward, professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business, told Congress recently, "The available evidence indicates that advertising is among the least influential factors involved in youth smoking." o In 1989, Jean Boddewyn, professor of marketing at Baruch College (City University of New York), edited an international survey on juvenile smoking conducted by The C'hi'idren's Research Unit in London, England. He concluded, "[The study] provides strong evidence that advertising plays a minuscule role in the initiation of smoking by the young...family and peer influences appear to be the determining factors in juvenile smoking initiation." o Former Federal Trade Commission Chairman Michael Pertschuk--who as head of The Advocacy Institute is one of America's most prominent anti- smoking activists - said in 1983, "No one really pretends that advertising is a major determinant of smoking in this country or any other."