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Tobacco Ads Luring Teens [06/17-4]

Excerpts from: Tobacco ads still luring teens

By: KEVIN DOBBS http://www.argusleader.com [06-17-02]

Despite industry claims, big tobacco's marketing campaigns continue to have the greatest influence on children to start smoking, a new study finds.

The report, published in the June issue of the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, says cigarette advertising remains the leading lure for new smokers, especially teen-agers, ahead of smoking by family members and peers.

"The findings suggest that physicians and other health care providers should redouble efforts" to inform children "about the addictive nature of tobacco products," writes Nancy Kaufman of Princeton University, lead author of the study, which was based on a survey of 17,000 adolescents.

Major tobacco companies agreed in a multibillion-dollar 1998 legal settlement with several states, including South Dakota, to curtail advertising in media consumed by adolescents. That includes, for example, pulling ads from magazines regularly read by teens.

It's a deal that big tobacco has lived up to, industry leaders say.

"Cigarettes are not safe and not legal for them, and we do not market our products to them," said Tom Ryan, a spokesman for tobacco giant Philip Morris.

But anti-tobacco advocates see it differently.

Kitty Kinsman, former state health secretary and consultant to the South Dakota Tobacco-Free Kids Network, said the tobacco industry "simply moved its marketing dollars to other places and increased its spending."

The most obvious locales, she said, are convenience stores, where displays and in-store cigarette promotions abound.