Tobacco Documents Online

_ HOW ADVERTISING WORKS: COMPETITION IN A MATURE MARK .T !• Tobacco advertising does not cause people to smoke. As the President's Council of Economic Advisors stated in its 1987 report to the President: "There is little evidence that advertising results in additional smoking. As with many products, [cigarette] advertising mainly shifts consumers among brands. • The contention that advertising does influence people to smoke overlooks the distinction between advertising in a"mature" product and advertising in a"new" product market. In a 'new product market, advertising, in the course of promoting demand for particular brands, informs potential consumers about and creates demand for the product category. Potential consumers are unfamiliar with the product category and have not formed an attitude toward it. . In a mature ' market, consumers are familiar with and have formed an attitude toward the product category. Advertising speaks to those who have made a decision to use the product category, promoting loyalty to the advertised brand or seeking to persuade consumers to switch brands. • Studies show that advertising in mature markets is not significantly related to overall product demand, so advertising restrictions and bans aimed at reducing smoking won't have such an impact. • In fact, studies show that countries where tobacco advertising is severely restricted or banned often have a greater influence of smoking than countries that allow tobacco advertising. • As in any industry, the incentive for cigarette manufacturers to advertise particular brands is substantial. Keeping or gaining a single market-share point was worth over $450 million in sales in this country in 199 1. • And every year, numerous smokers may switch brands. As many as one in four smokers experiment with different brands • in the U.S. in any given year.

• When proponents of cigarette advertising bans suggest that advertising influences people to smoke, they are both overestimating the power of advertising and underestimating the intelligence and free will of consu mers. • Disseminating commercial messages does not guarantee that they will be noticed: even when noticed, the messages will not necessarily be retained; even when the message is memorable, the brand will not necessarily be recalled; there is no guarantee there was any interest in purchasing brand or product category. • In addition, the antismoking counterarguments" are out there and cannot be missed. The antitobacco point of view is one of the most ~,idely disseminated consumer messages in the world. Health warnings must be carried on tobacco product packages and in tobacco advertising. • Basically, ad ban proposals are based on flawed assumptions -- that tobacco advertising influences people to begin smoking and that instituting controls means smoking will decline. . ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ C~o ~