Toward Reducing Youth Exposure to Tobacco Messages: Examining the Breadth of Brand and Nonbrand Communications

Abstract

Young people cannot escape prosmoking messages in today's society. From magazine advertisements to billboards to promotional products to storefronts, the pervasive landscape of tobacco-related communications is unavoidable. Despite increased restrictions on tobacco advertising and promotion in recent decades, including the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), tobacco companies continue to employ an extensive array of marketing communications practices that can reach youth. Moreover, minors encounter tobacco messages not only from branded sources (those paid for by the tobacco firms), but also through nonbranded sources, such as smoking portrayals on television and in films and prosmoking websites. In this article, we critically examine the myriad and far-reaching tobacco messages that young people face. Although tobacco company marketing that can reach minors has undergone much research and public scrutiny, the combined impact of those messages along with nonbrand messages that positively portray smoking has received much less attention. Since all messages communicate, not just branded ones, it is important to examine the breadth of tobacco communications to which young people are exposed. We close by offering recommendations both for reducing youth exposure to protobacco communications and enhancing anti-youth-smoking efforts.

A Decade of Research on Health Content in the Media: The Focus on Health Challenges and Sociocultural Context and Attendant Informational and Ideological Problems

“…In these studies, the primary concern was with injurious role modeling. Except for a study about the lack of print media coverage of passive smoking research (Kennedy & Bero, 1999;Sepe & Glantz, 2002), most focused on prosmoking content (cf., Mekemson et al, 2004), including: the prevalence of brand and nonbrand prosmoking messages that appeal to teenagers in a range of media (Lee et al, 2004); prevalence of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use in teen movies (Stern, 2005), tobacco and alcohol in music videos (DuRant et al, 1997); violence, sex, and substance use in music videos (Smith, 2005); and appealing characteristics of smokers in movies (Escamilla et al, 2000;McIntosh et al, 1998). A number focused on marketing efforts such as special placements in movies (Basil, 1997), advertising meant to counter New Year's resolutions to quit smoking (Basil et al, 2000), and billboard ads for alcohol and tobacco (Schooler et al, 1996;Stoddard et al, 1998).…”

Longitudinal effects of pro‐tobacco and anti‐tobacco messages on adolescent smoking susceptibility

“…Less is known about the ways in which these forms of media interact, or their effects on susceptibility over time (Jackson, 1998;Siegel & Biener, 2000). Antitobacco and pro-tobacco media may dampen one another, or one type may raise the threshold required by the other to influence youth (Lee et al, 2004). These effects may be altered by the cultural experiences of the individuals exposed.…”

“…Because the pro-tobacco message cannot be completely suppressed, anti-tobacco media campaigns, usually sponsored by government agencies, try to counter their effects (Lee et al, 2004;Pechman & Reibling, 2000;Wakefield, Flay, Nichter, & Giovino, 2003). Ample evidence suggests that both pro-tobacco messages and anti-tobacco media campaigns are associated with smoking susceptibility among adolescents (Arnett & Terhanian, 1998;Feighery, Borzekowski, Schooler, & Flora, 1998;Straub, Hills, Thompson, & Moscicki, 2003).…”

“…Youth are exposed to many types of tobacco brand advertising, such as that found in retail outlets, and pro-smoking imagery, such as can be found on television and in movies (Lee, Taylor, & McGetrick, 2004). Because the pro-tobacco message cannot be completely suppressed, anti-tobacco media campaigns, usually sponsored by government agencies, try to counter their effects (Lee et al, 2004;Pechman & Reibling, 2000;Wakefield, Flay, Nichter, & Giovino, 2003).…”

Youth gambling advertising: A review of the lessons learned from tobacco control

“…Wakefield et al (2005) reported that, between 1999 and 2003, US youth were exposed to more tobacco advertisements than antismoking ads. In addition to direct exposure through advertising, young people are also exposed to informal advertising on television, movies, radio, and the Internet through product placement Lee, Taylor, & McGetrick, 2004;Ribisl et al, 2003). Based on the 2001-2002 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, Marshall et al (2006) reported that 89.9% of middle-school students and 91.3% of high-school students had been exposed to tobacco use on television and in movies.…”