Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Increases Adolescent Smoking

The tobacco industry denies that its marketing is targeted at young non-smokers. A new systematic review of 19 longitudinal studies by the Cochrane Collaboration concludes that exposure to tobacco advertising and promotion increases the likelihood that adolescents will start to smoke.

The review analyzed 19 longitudinal studies that examined the relationship between adolescent smoking and advertising. The 19 studies tracked a total of 29,000 adolescents aged 18 or younger over time. In 18 of the 19 studies, nonsmoking adolescents who were more aware of tobacco advertising or receptive to tobacco advertising were more likely to have experimented with cigarettes or become smokers at follow up.

Key Messages

• Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship increase the likelihood that young people will start to smoke.
• To prevent youth from starting to smoke, countries should impose comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

Full Citation: Lovato C, Watts A, Stead LF. Impact of tobacco advertising and promotion on increasing adolescent smoking behaviours (Review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2011;(10):1-45.

A link to the article abstract [English only] can be found at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003439.pub2/abstract

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit organization dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of health care readily available worldwide. Cochrane Reviews are systematic reviews of primary research in human health care and health policy that seek to answer a clearly formulated question in order to establish whether or not conclusive evidence about a specific treatment exists.

If you have questions about the materials or how to use them in your advocacy efforts, please email research@tobaccofreecenter.org.  

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