Tobacco Documents Online

WSY YOUNG PEOPLE START SMOKING . Advocates of advertising restrictions would like the public to believe that tobacco ads "cause" young people to start smoking. Most experts, however, say the most powerful determinants of youth smoking are parents, peers and older siblings -- not advertising. Dr. Scott Ward, professor of marketing at the Wharton School, testified in congressional hearings that "the available evidence indicates that advertising is among the least influential factors involved (in youth smoking] -- certainly not influential enough to warrant an advertising ban..." Former FTC Chairman Michael Pertschuk, who now heads the anti- tobacco Advocacy Institute, testified in 1983 that "(n) o one really pretends that advertising is a major determinant of smoking in this country or any other." Further confirmation comes from one of the most comprehensive scientific studies ever conducted. Advertising is an insignificant factor in the initiation of smoking, according to Juvenile Smoking Initiation and Advertising, a study of children age 7 to 15 year 0 old in 16 nations throughout the world. W CO r Published by the International Advertising Association, the study Q covers Argentina, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, JaPan W ,

Kenya, Kuwait, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland', Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Children were asked about the conditions, motivations and circumstances of their first experience with smoking. Pressures of personal and social influences surrounding the potential smoker were found to be overwhelming factors; advertising was a negligible influence. "The study demonstrates that advertising plays a negligible role, if any, in the initiation of smoking by the youung compared with that of personal and social factors," according to Professor J.J. Boddewyn, PH.D., affiliated with Baruch College, City University of New York, who edited the study. "To see what it was like" was the primary reason given for smoking by juveniles in all countries. This was followed by variations on the themes of peer pressure (conformity) and risk-taking. Nineteen percent of juveniles in Australia and 16 percent in Turkey said that all their friends smoked, while 19 percent in Spain and 20 percent in Sweden said someone gave them their first cigarette. Thirty-eight percent in Hong Kong, 15 percent in the Philippines and 16 percent in Argentina said their first smoke was in response to a dare. When shown a list of items that might have influenced them to start

smoking, advertising was chosen by only 3 percent of juveniles in Kuwait and'the Philippines, by just 2 percent in Argentina, Australia, Hong Kong, Sweden and Turkey, by less than 0.5 percent in New Zealand and by no one children in Italy, Japan, Kenya, Norway and Spain. Where spontaneous (unaided) recall was used to get at reasons for starting to smoke, advertising was virtually never mentioned in any country, Professor Boddewyn observed. The highest proportions of children who have never smoked -- more than 80 percent in all cases -- were found in countries that have relatively few restrictions on tobacco advertising (Argentina, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya and the Philippines.) Conversely, the highest proportion of children who are regular or occasional smokers was found in Norway, where tobacco advertising is banned. The same incidence of juvenile smoking is found in Canada, with modest restrictions at the time the study was conducted, and Sweden, with severe restrictions. Thus confirming that the incidence of juvenile smoking is not related to the prevalence of cigarette advertising, said Professor Boddewyn. The proportions of children who "tried once" or "used to smoke" are substantially higher than those who are "regular" or "occasional" C

smokers in all countries studied, clearly contradicting the view that a high proportion of children continue to smoke after first trying it, he added. The study was.conducted by the Children's Research Unit (CRU) of London. The CRU specializes in market research on children and has conducted studies for a variety of manufacturers, advertisers, professional and trade associations, media groups, government units and other organizations. ~