|
|
||||||||
RESEARCH AND PRACTICE |
The authors are with the Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, Box 0130, San Francisco, CA 94143-0130 (e-mail: glantz{at}medicine.ucsf.edu).
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Objectives. This study examined changes in tobacco promotions in the alternative press in San Francisco and Philadelphia from 1994 to 1999.
Methods. A random sample of alternative newspapers was analyzed, and a content analysis was conducted.
Results. Between 1994 and 1999, numbers of tobacco advertisements increased from 8 to 337 in San Francisco and from 8 to 351 in Philadelphia. Product advertisements represented only 45% to 50% of the total; the remaining advertisements were entertainment-focused promotions, mostly barclub and event promotions.
Conclusions. The tobacco industry has increased its use of bars and clubs as promotional venues and has used the alternative press to reach the young adults who frequent these establishments. This increased targeting of young adults may be associated with an increase in smoking among this group.
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Young adulthood is an important time in the solidification of smoking patterns, because it is usually a period of transition from experimental smoking to nicotine addiction.1113 Smoking patterns, including initiation, in young adults have not been static and are amenable to the influence of tobacco marketing. Indeed, smoking in this group has been increasing,1416 with first-use rates approaching 8.6% in the mid-1990s.17
To quantify the changing role of tobacco product bar promotions, we examined the number and nature of tobacco industrysponsored bar promotions advertised in the alternative press, which is heavily read by young adults.1827 At the same time that the tobacco industry was increasing the use of bars as promotional venues, California implemented a law that required bars to be smoke free.2830 To determine whether the presence of this law affected industry attempts to use bars as promotional venues, we compared bar-based tobacco promotions occurring in a city covered by the law (San Francisco) with those occurring in a similar city outside California where there were no restrictions on smoking in bars (Philadelphia). These 2 metropolitan areas have similar populations as well as similar percentages of young adults (ages 1824 years) in their populations (8.6% in San Francisco and 8.4% in Philadelphia).
| METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
All print advertisements were coded for general characteristics, including size, placement in the publication, and brand of cigarette, and then classified into one of 5 specific categories: bar promotion, event promotion, product advertisement, paraphernalia, or antismoking advertisement (Table 1
describes these categories). The first author coded all of the samples.
|
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
Figure 2
summarizes the proportions of advertisement types in each publication. Product advertisements were most frequent, but such advertisements represented only 50% of the total advertisements in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and 45% of the total advertisements in the Philadelphia City Paper. The remaining percentage of advertisements promoted sponsorship of bars or entertainment events.
|
Event promotions represented 17% of the total advertisements analyzed. Promotional events were subcategorized on the basis of type of event, the venue where it took place, and the presence of corporate citizenship. The most popular events were live music performances, which represented 68% of total promotional events in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and 65% in the Philadelphia City Paper; the remaining events were mostly sponsored parties. While most of these events occurred in bars or nightclubs (55% in San Francisco and 73% in Philadelphia), events were held in other venues as well, including arenas and resorts.
Tobacco companies often used event promotions to improve their corporate image. In many cases, this meant that a charitable donation would be made from the proceeds of the promotional event. Sixteen percent of the events in San Francisco and 23% in Philadelphia promoted a positive corporate image via charitable donations.
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The tobacco industry appears to be successful in reaching this target audience of young adults aged 18 to 24 years. Members of this age group continue to be vulnerable to marketing of tobacco, because many of them are in the later stages of smoking initiation and, as a result, are still in the process of solidifying their addiction to tobacco.11,12 Young adults are not immune to "late" initiation of smoking (i.e., smoking their first cigarettes after the age of 18 years or 21 years). In the past, and among different ethnic groups, first use has been shown to occur after adolescence.3139 Directed marketing toward young adults in social settings such as bars and nightclubs may raise the age at initiation toward what it was in the past. Current increases in young adult smoking, in terms of both overall prevalence and first use, suggest that this directed marketing is having an impact.1416
This new marketing strategy may also have a political motivation. The patterns of development of this advertising in the 2 study cities, while generally similar, exhibited some differences. The main difference occurred in 1997, when the number of advertisements in the San Francisco Bay Guardian exceeded those in the Philadelphia City Paper by a weighted total of 47. This more intensive advertising in San Francisco may have been part of the tobacco industry's effort to counter the effects of California's smoke-free bar law, which was scheduled to go into effect in California in January 1998.30
The presence of these promotions in other states may help to impede the passage of smoke-free bar laws or create compliance problems. Similar studies that have quantified the emergence of bars as promotional venues may help to clarify any political motivations.40 In any event, the presence of the smoke-free bar law in California did not inhibit the tobacco industry's use of bars as promotional venues in San Francisco relative to Philadelphia.
During the decade of the 1990s, the public health community concentrated on making it politically difficult for the tobacco industry to target children, in the hope that if children did not begin to smoke before reaching the age of 18 years, they would never smoke. The tobacco industry appears to have responded to this situation by increasing its promotional efforts targeted to young adults. These efforts appear to be bearing fruit; smoking rates are increasing in this age group.1416 It would be unfortunate if one result of the concentration on youth smoking of the past decade were simply that more people are smoking in young adulthood. The public health community needs to rethink its tobacco prevention strategies to account for these new industry strategies.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
We thank Mamiko Hada for assistance in data collection.
| Footnotes |
|---|
Accepted for publication December 13, 2000.
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
2. Scholtes PS. You're not invited. City Pages [serial online]. September 22, 1999.
3. Hwang SL. Tobacco companies enlist the bar owner to push their goods. Wall Street Journal. April 21, 1999:A1, A6.
4. Graham C. Tobacco companies heating up the nightclub scene. St. Petersburg Times. August 16, 1998:H1.
5. Gellene D. Joining the clubs: tobacco firms find a venue in bars. Los Angeles Times. September 25, 1997:D1, D3.
6. Davis HL. A party to die for? Buffalo News. July 27, 1998:A4A5.
7. Carreon C. Joe Camel turns up in Portland nightclubs. The Oregonian [serial online]. July 31, 1998.
8. Glantz SA. Preventing tobacco use: the youth access trap. Am J Public Health. 1996;86:156158.
9. Levy D, Cummings K, Hyland A. A simulation of the effects of youth initiation policies on overall cigarette usage. Am J Public Health. 2000;90:13111314.
10. Choi WS. Which adolescent experimenters progress to established smoking in the United States? Am J Prev Med. 1997;13:385391.[Medline]
11. Flay BR, d'Avernas JR, Best JA, Kersell MW, Ryan KB. Cigarette smoking: why young people do it and ways of preventing it. Pediatr Adolesc Behav Med. 1983;10:132183.
12. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, Ga: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 1994.
13. Sepe E, Ling P, Glantz S. Smooth moves: the targeting of young adults by the tobacco industry's bar and nightclub promotions Am J Public Health. In press.
14. Ehlinger EP. Boynton Health Service Announces Sharp Rise in Tobacco Use in University of Minnesota Students [press release]. Minneapolis: School of Public Health, University of Minnesota; 1999.
15. Emmons KM, Wechsler H, Dowdall G, Abraham M. Predictors of smoking among US college students. Am J Public Health. 1998;88:104107.
16. Wechsler H, Rigotti NA, Gledhill-Hoyt J, Lee H. Increased levels of cigarette use among college students: a cause for national concern. JAMA. 1998;280:16731678.
17. US Dept of Health and Human Services. Incidence of initiation of cigarette smokingUnited States, 19651996. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1998;47:837840.[Medline]
18. Wizda S. Consider the alternative. Am Journalism Rev. November 1998:44.
19. Stein ML. Who's copying whom? (alternative papers believe mainstream papers are becoming more like them). Editor Publisher. 1998;131(8):3.
20. Schnuer J. Older generations just don't get alternative lure. Advertising Age. April 20, 1998:S20.
21. Pollack J. Number of small publications continues to increase locally. St. Louis Journalism Rev. 1998;28:7.
22. Mollenkamp B. Alternative press goes corporate. St. Louis Journalism Rev. 1997;28:2.
23. Giman W. Alternatives making inroads: consolidation among alternative newspapers is making them more than just a nuisance to many mainstream dailies in the battle for national ad dollars. Editor Publisher. 1997;130(22):3.
24. Giman W. "Sexier" and better looking: Association of Alternative Newsweeklies panelists say dailies are losing ground to their better packaged, more colorful weekly competitors. Editor Publisher. 1997;130(30):2.
25. Bates E. Chaining the alternatives. Nation. 1998;266:11.
26. Ardits SC. The alternative press: newsweeklies and zines. Database. 1999;22(3):15.
27. Alternative capitalism. Maclean'. February 23, 1998:13.
28. Macdonald HR, Glantz SA. The political realities of statewide smoking legislation. Tob Control. 1997;6:4154.[Abstract]
29. Magzamen SG. Turning the Tide: Tobacco Industry Political Influence and Tobacco Policy Making in California 19971999. San Francisco: University of California, San Francisco; 1999. Available at: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/ca9799. Accessed October 16, 2001.
30. Magzamen S, Glantz SA. The new battleground: California's experience with smoke-free bars. Am J Public Health. 2001;91:245252.[Abstract]
31. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Washington, DC: US Bureau of the Census; 2000.
32. Gilpin EA, Lee L, Evans N, Pierce JP. Smoking initiation rates in adults and minors: United States, 19441988. Am J Epidemiol. 1994;140:535543.
33. Burns D, Lee L, Vaughn J, Chiu Y, Shopland D. Rates of smoking initiation among adolescents and young adults, 190781. Tob Control. 1995;4(suppl 1):S2S8.
34. Novotny TE, Warner KE, Kendrick JS, Remington PL. Smoking by blacks and whites: socioeconomic and demographic differences. Am J Public Health. 1988;78:11871189.
35. Differences in the age of smoking initiation between blacks and whitesUnited States. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1991;40:754757.[Medline]
36. Giovino GA, Henningfield JE, Tomar SL, Escobedo LG, Slade J. Epidemiology of tobacco use and dependence. Epidemiol Rev. 1995;17:4865.
37. Giovino GA, Schooley MW, Zhu BP, et al. Surveillance for selected tobacco-use behaviorsUnited States, 19001994. MMWR CDC Surveill Summ. 1994;43(3):143.[Medline]
38. Escobedo LG, Anda RF, Smith PF, Remington PL, Mast EE. Sociodemographic characteristics of cigarette smoking initiation in the United States: implications for smoking prevention policy. JAMA. 1990;264:15501555.[Abstract]
39. Bauman K, Ennett S. Tobacco use by black adolescents: the validity of self-reports. Am J Public Health. 1994;84:394398.
40. Cruz T, Weiner M, Schuster D, Unger J. Growth of tobacco-sponsored bars and clubs from 19962000. Paper presented at: 128th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association; November 1216, 2000; Boston, Mass.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
F. A. Stillman, L. Bone, E. Avila-Tang, K. Smith, N. Yancey, C. Street, and K. Owings Barriers to Smoking Cessation in Inner-City African American Young Adults Am J Public Health, August 1, 2007; 97(8): 1405 - 1408. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. P. Green, K. L. McCausland, H. Xiao, J. C. Duke, D. M. Vallone, and C. G. Healton A Closer Look at Smoking Among Young Adults: Where Tobacco Control Should Focus Its Attention Am J Public Health, August 1, 2007; 97(8): 1427 - 1433. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. E. Apollonio and L. A. Bero The Creation of Industry Front Groups: The Tobacco Industry and "Get Government Off Our Back" Am J Public Health, March 1, 2007; 97(3): 419 - 427. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G Jalleh, R J Donovan, S Stewart, and D Sullivan Selling or promotion? Tob. Control, December 1, 2005; 14(6): 430 - 430. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B A Toll and P M Ling The Virginia Slims identity crisis: an inside look at tobacco industry marketing to women Tob. Control, June 1, 2005; 14(3): 172 - 180. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D Hammond Smoking behaviour among young adults: beyond youth prevention Tob. Control, June 1, 2005; 14(3): 181 - 185. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D Hammond, I Tremblay, M Chaiton, E Lessard, C Callard, and the Tobacco on Campus Workgroup Tobacco on campus: industry marketing and tobacco control policy among post-secondary institutions in Canada Tob. Control, April 1, 2005; 14(2): 136 - 140. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
F A Sloan, C A Mathews, and J G Trogdon Impacts of the Master Settlement Agreement on the tobacco industry Tob. Control, December 1, 2004; 13(4): 356 - 361. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L Biener, A L Nyman, R L Kline, and A B Albers Adults only: the prevalence of tobacco promotions in bars and clubs in the Boston area Tob. Control, December 1, 2004; 13(4): 403 - 408. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J Knight and S Chapman "Asian yuppies...are always looking for something new and different": creating a tobacco culture among young Asians Tob. Control, December 1, 2004; 13(suppl_2): ii22 - ii29. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Moran, H. Wechsler, and N. A. Rigotti Social Smoking Among US College Students Pediatrics, October 1, 2004; 114(4): 1028 - 1034. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E M Barbeau, A Leavy-Sperounis, and E D Balbach Smoking, social class, and gender: what can public health learn from the tobacco industry about disparities in smoking? Tob. Control, June 1, 2004; 13(2): 115 - 120. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. Biener and A. B. Albers Young Adults: Vulnerable New Targets of Tobacco Marketing Am J Public Health, February 1, 2004; 94(2): 326 - 330. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
P M Lantz Smoking on the rise among young adults: implications for research and policy Tob. Control, June 1, 2003; 12(90001): i60 - 70. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L Trotter, M Wakefield, and R Borland Socially cued smoking in bars, nightclubs, and gaming venues: a case for introducing smoke-free policies Tob. Control, December 1, 2002; 11(4): 300 - 304. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L Henriksen and S P Fortmann Young adults' opinions of Philip Morris and its television advertising Tob. Control, September 1, 2002; 11(3): 236 - 240. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
P. M. Ling and S. A. Glantz Using Tobacco-Industry Marketing Research to Design More Effective Tobacco-Control Campaigns JAMA, June 12, 2002; 287(22): 2983 - 2989. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. E. Warner What's a Cigarette Company to Do? Am J Public Health, June 1, 2002; 92(6): 897 - 900. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
P. M. Ling and S. A. Glantz Why and How the Tobacco Industry Sells Cigarettes to Young Adults: Evidence From Industry Documents Am J Public Health, June 1, 2002; 92(6): 908 - 916. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. Sepe, P. M. Ling, and S. A. Glantz Smooth Moves: Bar and Nightclub Tobacco Promotions That Target Young Adults Am J Public Health, March 1, 2002; 92(3): 414 - 419. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |