Point-of-Sale Advertising Found to Influence Teens to Start Smoking
Point-of-sale advertising involves placing advertisements near a checkout counter in retail outlets such as gas stations, grocery stores, and convenience stores. A new study from Stanford University Medical School has found that this type of advertising is a major cause of teen smoking in America, and the researchers urge that point-of-sale advertising for tobacco products should be banned.
The study, which will be published in the August issue of Pediatrics, found that students between the ages of 11 and 14 who went to these types of stores regularly were at least twice as likely to start smoking as those who didn’t visit these stores as often.
Lisa Henriksen, PhD, lead author of the study and a senior research scientist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, said that while the tobacco industry says advertising simply encourages smokers to switch brands, their findings show that it actually encourages teenagers to start smoking.
A new law went into effect on June 22, 2010, that allows the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of tobacco products. Tobacco companies can no longer use terms such as “light,” “low,” or “mild” on advertising and packaging, and can no longer sponsor cultural and sporting events.
Point-of-sale advertising made up about 90 percent of the tobacco industry’s marketing budget in 2006, so reducing this kind of advertising could help curb teen smoking. Henriksen said that most smokers pick up the habit as teenagers, and if teens make it to adulthood without smoking, they are very unlikely to become addicted.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report showing that cigarette smoking among high-school students has leveled off, dropping from 36.4 percent in 1997 to 21.9 percent in 2003 to 19.5 percent in 2009. The slowing in decline is concerning to Henriksen, who said that more needs to be done to prevent smoking.
In the study, Henriksen gathered data from surveys of 2,110 middle-school students ages 11 to 14 and assessments of nicotine advertisements at stores near the schools. Students were asked about their experience with smoking as well as how frequently they went to stores that feature nicotine ads. They followed up one year later and 30 months later.
When the study began in 2003, 1,681 students said they never started smoking. A year later, 18 percent tried smoking. Many of the students who started smoking frequently visited stores with nicotine advertisements.
For students who went to these stores at least twice a week, 29 percent had tried smoking; among those who went to the stores less than twice a month, only 9 percent tried smoking.
Thirty months after the study began, 27 percent of the students had tried smoking: 34 percent of frequent store visitors and 21 percent of those who rarely visited the stores.
The researchers measured the students’ exposure to nicotine advertisements by multiplying their store visits by the number of cigarette-themed ads in stores near schools. They found that students saw an average of 325 cigarette ads per week. Henriksen said she was surprised by the number of advertisements near schools, adding that they are unavoidable.
The researchers also factored in the students’ risk-taking behavior, the time after school when they are unsupervised, their exposure to smoking in movies and on television, and whether their friends and family members smoked. School grades, gender, race, and ethnicity were also examined.
After adjusting for variables, Henriksen still found a strong link between smoking and visiting stores with cigarette ads.
Sources: Science Daily, Point-of-Sale Advertising Major Cause of Teen Smoking, Study Shows, July 19, 2010
HealthDay, Ban Point-of-Sale Tobacco Ads in Retail Outlets, Researchers Urge, July 19, 2010
