The Problem of Adolescent Smoking

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Marketing of Smoking

    What was your greatest concern in middle school and high school?  Did these questions weigh on your mind as you were walking the halls and chatting at lunch:  "What is the latest trend, what is the newest fad?"  Adolescents are influenced, concerning the latest trends every time they pick up a magazine, turn on the T.V., listen to the radio, or purchase clothing marked with logos.

    The media and the marketing industry is a common influence of our adolescents.  Marketing is a booming industry that influences adolescents everyday, concerning the cars they drive, the clothes they wear and the food they eat. What effect does the marketing industry have on the choices adolescents make about health issues?  Do the commercials on T.V. and the ads in Seventeen truly effect the paths adolescents take?  Can the marketing of cigarettes effect the initiation of such a deadly habit?

    Studies show that marketing effects the choices adolescents make concerning smoking and tobacco use.  One study found that "adolescents who, at baseline, owned a tobacco promotional item and named a brand whose advertisements attracted their attention were more than twice as likely to become established smokers than adolescents who did neither" (Biener, 2000).  "Despite tobacco industry claims to the contrary, researchers have consistently implicated cigarette marketing activities as an important catalyst in the smoking initiation progress" (Biener, 2000). 

    It's not just the advertisement alone, but the idea of smoking that is being put in front of our adolescents time and time again that is causing their tolerance toward the habit to increase.  Those youth who seem to be most influenced are those who are not as strong in their personal identity.

“A better explanation of the process is that promotional items and the images they have come to represent through advertising campaigns are particularly attractive to adolescents who, for some reason, are looking for an identity that the images are carefully designed to offer.  These are the youths who would retain the items whereas those whose identity needs are met in other ways would likely lose, discard, or forget about the items.  Having the items offers to the vulnerable group the opportunity to “try on the image of a smoker”(n23p124) Doing so is likely part of a longer-term process of accepting the image and eventually the smoking behavior associated with it” (Biener, 2000).

Another conclusion from the same telephone survey was that “participation in tobacco marketing often precedes, and is likely to facilitate, progression to established smoking.  Hence, restrictions on tobacco marketing and promotion could reduce addiction to tobacco” (Beiner, 2000).

          Many tobacco companies have campaigns that encourage young adolescents to not take up the habit of smoking, however how effective are these campaigns?  Do we need to be telling our youth what not to do, or do we need to share with them the truth about the consequences of their actions?  The American Legacy Foundation counter marketed Phillip Morris’s “Think.Don’t Smoke” campaign and the results showed that the “truth” campaign was effective.  “Exposure to “truth” counter marketing advertisements was consistently associated with an increase in anti-tobacco attitudes and beliefs, whereas exposure to Phillip Morris advertisements generally was not.  In addition, those exposed to Phillip Morris advertisements were more likely to be open to the idea of smoking” (Farrelly, 2002).

         It is apparent in many situations in life that knowing the truth about the consequences of our actions at a young age helps prevent us from choosing the "wrong way".  It is important that we expose our adolescents to truth rather than simply discouraging them from a habit that is bad for their health.  When we present them with the facts, they are capable of making their own healthy decisions.