Cigarette Ads a Powerful Lure for Teen Smoking

Cigarette advertising significantly increases the odds that youngsters who see the ads will start smoking, but exposure to ads for other products does not, The ads for other products such as cell phones and candies fail to trigger the same psychological mechanisms that make children take up the smoking habit.
he initiation of smoking was significantly associated with the number of times each adolescent recalled seeing the cigarette ads.

Nineteen percent of teens in the high cigarette ad recall group started smoking compared to 10% in the low cigarette ad exposure group.

Exposure to ads for other products was not significantly associated with onset of cigarette smoking after adjusting for other factors.

Other predictors of smoking included older age, low socioeconomic level, having friends who smoke, sensation-seeking/rebellion, and low school performance.

“Our results support the notion of a content-related effect of cigarette advertisements and underlines the specificity of the relationship between tobacco marketing and teen smoking,” the authors write. “Exposure to cigarette advertisements but not other advertisements is associated with smoking initiation.”

The researchers say tobacco ads work because companies aim their messages at young people, who are particular susceptible to even subtle meanings, such as hints that smoking is tied to masculinity, in the case of males, and to thinness, sex appeal, and independence for girls.

The other products advertised do not project such mental cues or thoughts, and thus don’t influence youngsters to start smoking.