Tobacco Advertising

Introduction

To say that tobacco advertising stimulates tobacco sales may seem a simple and moderate statement. In reality, tobacco control activists often meet serious opposition in defending this fact. Achieving the restriction or banning of tobacco advertising is one of the fiercest battles to face. Tobacco lobbyists usually assert that advertising does not increase the overall quantity of tobacco sold. Rather, the tobacco industry maintains that advertising merely enhances the market share of a particular brand, without recruiting new smokers.

These arguments are not always easy to counter. This Factsheet gives health advocates the arguments and research data needed to face well-prepared tobacco lobbyists in public debate. The data cited are all presented in reputable scientific journals or congresses. They demonstrate that tobacco advertising entices young people to begin smoking and that restricting or banning advertising has a measurable effect on smoking behaviour.

Research on tobacco advertising and consumption

It is not possible to conduct a randomised controlled trial to study the effect of an advertising ban. Such a trial would require long-term exposure of one group of people to cigarette advertising, while ensuring that a control group would be completely unexposed. This is neither feasible nor ethical.

Scientists funded by the tobacco industry have argued that in the absence of data from such a trial, it can never be proven that banning tobacco advertising will reduce tobacco consumption. However, most researchers agree that reliable conclusions can be drawn from other types of studies. Three main types of studies have examined the relationship between tobacco advertising and consumption:

1. econometric research on the link between expenditure on advertising and tobacco consumption

2. research comparing tobacco consumption within a country before and after an ad ban

3. international comparison of trends in tobacco consumption and anti-tobacco measures

Econometric research

Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between expenditure on tobacco advertising and consumption of tobacco ([1]). Adjustment must be made for important factors such as product price, available income, etc., to avoid drawing wrong conclusions. As econometric studies look at total expenditure and total consumption, no specific conclusions regarding eff...

... middle of paper ...

...kers on adult susceptibility to smoking. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 87, 1538-1545

[17] DiFranza JR et al. (1991). RJR Nabisco’s cartoon camel promotes Camel cigarettes to children. J Am Med Assoc 266, 3149-3153

[18] Nelson E, White D. (1992) Children’s awareness of cigarette advertisements on television. Health Education Journal, 51, 34-37.

[19] Luke D, Esmundo E, Bloom Y. (2000) Smoke signs: Patterns of tobacco billboard advertising in a metropolitan region, Tobacco Control, 2000, (9), 16-23.

[20] Guthrie B (1994). Tobacco advertising near schools. British Medical Journal, 308, 658

[21] Guthrie, B. (1995). Tobacco companies violated advertising restriction. British Medical Journal, 311, 1501

[22] Gilpin EA, Pierce JP, Rosbrook B. (1997). Are adolescents receptive to current sales promotion practices of the tobacco industry? Preventive Medicine, 26, 14-21.

[23] Jha P, Chaloupka FJ. (1999) Curbing the Epidemic: Governments and the Economics of Tobacco Control, World Bank, Washington DC

24 NSPH (1998). Tabaksontmoedigingsbeleid: Gezondheidseffectrapportage [Tobacco Control Policy: Health effects report]. Utrecht: Netherlands School of Public Health (NSPH).