Tobacco Industry Promotion of Cigarettes and Adolescent Smoking

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Abstract
A NUMBER of studies have implicated tobacco industry advertising and promotional activities as possible causal agents in the stimulation of demand for cigarettes among adolescents.1-3 The effectiveness of promotional activities over the past 10 years has been postulated as a major reason for the recent increases in adolescent smoking behavior.4-6 There is abundant evidence that adolescents are exposed to and have high recall of tobacco industry promotional messages.2,7,8 Studies of smoking initiation rates in population samples demonstrate that sharp increases in adolescent smoking coincide with the conduct of effective tobacco promotional campaigns.9,10 Since the first Surgeon General's report on smoking and health in 1964,11 these increases appear to be specific to adolescents aged 14 to 17 years; there were no similar increases among adults.6,9,10