Features of sales promotion in cigarette magazine advertisements, 1980-1993: an analysis of youth exposure in the United States
Linda G Pucci, Michael Siegel
Social and
Behavioral Sciences Department, Boston University School of Public
Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Correspondence to: Dr M Siegel, Boston University School of Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, 715 Albany Street, TW2, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA; mbsiegel{at}bu.edu
OBJECTIVE
To examine
the presence of features of sales promotion in cigarette advertising in
United States magazines, and to describe trends in youth (ages 12-17)
exposure to such advertising (termed "promotional advertising").
DESIGNAnalysis of
1980-1993 annual data on: (a) total pages and expenditures for
"promotional advertising" (advertising that contains features of
sales promotion) in 36 popular magazines (all magazines for which data
were available), by cigarette brand; and (b) readership characteristics
for each magazine. We defined promotional advertising as advertisements
that go beyond the simple advertising of the product and its features
to include one or more features of sales promotion, such as coupons,
"retail value added" promotions, contests, sweepstakes, catalogues,
specialty item distribution, and sponsorship of public entertainment or
sporting events.
MAIN OUTCOME
MEASURESTotal pages
of, and expenditures for promotional advertising in magazines; and
gross impressions (number of readers multiplied by the number of pages
of promotional advertising) among youth and total readership.
RESULTSDuring the
period 1980-1993, tobacco companies spent $90.2 million on promotional
advertising in the 36 magazines. The proportion of promotional
advertising appearing in "youth" magazines (defined as magazines
with a greater than average proportion of youth readers) increased from
7% in 1980 to nearly 100% in 1987. Although youth readers represented
only 19% of magazine readers, the proportion of youth gross
impressions to total gross impressions of tobacco promotional
advertising exceeded this value throughout the entire period
1985-1993, peaking at 33% in 1987. The five "youth" cigarette brands (defined as brands smoked by at least 2.5% of smokers aged 10-15 years in 1993) accounted for 59% of promotional advertising in
all magazines, but for 83% of promotional advertising in youth magazines during the study period.
CONCLUSIONSIn their
magazine advertising, cigarette companies are preferentially exposing
young people to advertisements that contain sales promotional features.
Keywords: advertising; magazines; adolescents
© 1999 by Tobacco Control
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Maassen, I. T. H. M., Kremers, S. P. J., Mudde, A. N., Joof, B. M.
(2004). Smoking initiation among Gambian adolescents: social cognitive influences and the effect of cigarette sampling. Health Educ Res
19: 551-560
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Braverman, M. T., Aaro, L. E.
(2004). Adolescent Smoking and Exposure to Tobacco Marketing Under a Tobacco Advertising Ban: Findings From 2 Norwegian National Samples. AJPH
94: 1230-1238
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Hamilton, W L, Turner-Bowker, D M, Celebucki, C C, Connolly, G N
(2002). Cigarette advertising in magazines: the tobacco industry response to the Master Settlement Agreement and to public pressure. Tobacco Control
11: ii54-58
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
