Many studies that deal with teen smoking can show “a link” between exposure to cigarette advertising and an increased propensity to smoke. But now, researchers say, there’s a study that proves the “cause-and-effect” relationship.
A U.S. researcher worked with German researchers to create a test for more than 2,102 German students between the ages of 10 and 17. All of the students were shown advertisements for various types of products, including cigarettes. All of the brand names were “removed” or faded out electronically.
It comes as no surprise that the ability to identify the brand names of things like cell phones and cars did not have an effect on teen smoking. However, the teens that were able to identify at least one brand of cigarettes had a much greater chance to begin smoking by the time the study was over. And, the more brands that a teen could identify, the more likely they were to begin smoking.
In fact, nearly double the amount of teens (19 percent) in the high cigarette ad recall group started smoking, compared to just 10 percent in what WebMD called the “low cigarette ad exposure group.”
The results were lauded to be an important piece in the “advertising causes teen smoking” puzzle by co-author Dr. James D. Sargent, a professor of pediatrics and family and community medicine at Dartmouth Medical Center in New Hampshire, as well as Cheryl Healton, president and CEO of the anti-smoking American Legacy Foundation. However, there does seem to be one question.
Were the teens who could not recall cigarette brand names really exposed to that many fewer cigarette advertisements (as suggested by WebMD), or were they simply not interested in smoking, which caused them to not pay attention to the cigarette ads as much as those who remembered the brand names (and may have already been more compelled to the messaging, and ultimately smoking)?
Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion.
Dr. Sargent has performed numerous studies that show teens are susceptible to cigarette advertising messages. There’s no refuting the fact that most smokers start at a young age, and teens are a huge target market for cigarette manufacturers that spend about $30 million per day on advertising in the U.S. according to BusinessWeek.
Dr. Sargent and many others believe the study is another reason that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration should take full control of cigarette advertising, or eliminate it altogether. Many companies have taken aggressive steps to curtail cigarette advertising, but many feel that both the U.S. and Germany are among the countries that have not done enough.
The amount of teens who smoke in the U.S. has declined dramatically since 1997, but the level at which teens stop smoking on an annual basis has nearly leveled off. The American Lung Association reported that in 2007 about 20 percent of American teens still reported smoking a cigarette in the last 30 days.
The above study by Dr. Sargent eliminated outside risk factors that could affect the findings. The study results were published online this week by the journal Pediatrics in advance of its February issue.
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