A day in the life of an advertising man: review of internal documents from the UK tobacco industry's principal advertising agencies

Abstract

In July 1999 the Health Select Committee began an investigation into the British tobacco industry to determine what action it had taken and was taking in response to the known harmful effects of smoking and the addictive nature of tobacco. One of the committee's key achievements was to force the disclosure of a large quantity of internal company documents, includingfor the first time-material from the UK tobacco industry's leading advertising agencies.These documents cover all matters to do with tobacco promotion. They shed a unique light on the social research that has been done over the past 20 years to establish if and how tobacco promotion affects smoking behaviour. This research has been extensive but by necessity limited to studying observable outputs. The documents complete the picture by disclosing the inputs. In the process the documents corroborate the key findings of research and also yield much about the motivations and mindset of the UK tobacco industry.

Adolescents' Perceptions of Cigarette Brand Image: Does Plain Packaging Make a Difference?

“…Brand imageries are developed to address the emotional challenges of adolescence [12] and to project the personality traits that adolescents want for themselves [13], because this is the stage when smoking is initiated [14], brand loyalties are low, and brand preferences are being established [15].…”

Implications of the Tobacco Industry Documents for Public Health and Policy

“…The Internet is also mentioned in the documents as a marketing tool (23). These promotions encourage brand recognition and promote the "image" of the product and reach target groups of a variety of ages (13).…”

“…(23). Corporate representatives publicly answer these questions by claiming that advertising does not initiate smoking, that the industry does not target youth, and that sponsorship and other forms of promotion are philanthropic activities.…”

“…For example, keeping the price of cigarettes high and restricting both marketing and promotion could reduce youth smoking (15). Voluntary industry agreements regarding tobacco advertising are unlikely to influence sales (23). Tobacco product design should be regulated to reduce targeting of certain market segments such as youth or African Americans (56).…”

“…Enormous resources were devoted to developing and testing advertising campaigns using a "textbook approach" (23). Just as the tobacco industry commissioned scientific studies on the health effects of tobacco, it also commissioned marketing studies from outside research contractors.…”