Australia has some of the toughest laws prohibiting tobacco advertising in the world.1 Tobacco companies have only one legal avenue in Australia to promote their product—at the point of sale. (Under section 18 of the 1992 Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act, exemptions may be granted by the Federal Minister of Health for events of international significance which would otherwise be lost to Australia. A recent exemption has been made in Melbourne, Australia for the Formula 1 Grand Prix race.) However, a series of advertisements, which appear to be promoting cigarettes, has recently been posted on walls around Melbourne and has been placed in a youth magazine. A close inspection of the advertisements reveals that they are actually advertising Dangerfield, a clothing company.

Dangerfield caters to avant-garde youth fashion. The advertisements have been placed on the back page of Beat, which is a free magazine targeted at the local nightclubbers (figure 1). Research has shown that the nightclubber market segment is at high risk of adopting smoking (Schofield et al, unpublished manuscript).

Winfield is currently the top-selling brand among Melbourne adults and the …