• A study found that teens are more likely to be influenced to smoke by cigarette advertising than they are by peer pressure.
  
• Camel cigarette's share of the under 18 market has increased dramatically since the Joe Camel cartoon was introduced in 1988 - from 1/2% in 1988 to 32.8% in 1991, representing $476 million per year in illegal sales.
  
  
• 85% of adolescents smoke the three most heavily advertised brands - Marlboro, Camel and Newport; however only 35% of the adults do.
  
  
• In a letter from Sylvester Stallone on April 28, 1983: He confirmed his intention to promote Brown & Williamson products for a fee of a half of a million dollars. On June 14, 1983 Brown & Williamson responded confirming the agreement and expressing pride in having Sylvester Stallone promote their nicotine products.
  
  
• A study of very young children demonstrated that by age 6, children recognize the Joe Camel character as well as Mickey Mouse.
  
  
• The three best selling brands of snuff, Copenhagen, Skoal fine cut, and Kodiak, have statistically significant higher levels of nicotine than do Hawken and Skoal Bandits, the number four and five brands. The higher nicotine snuff also has a higher pH enabling enhanced absorption of nicotine.

Marketing of Tobacco Products

• Tobacco companies are spending more than ever on advertising and promotion despite court imposed restrictions. The tobacco industry spent $9.5 billion on advertising and promotions in 2000. The total was 16 percent greater than the previous year. Cigarette companies spent the most money ($3.9 billion) in 2000 on promotional allowances, such as paying for retailers for prime shelf space. They spent $3.5 billion on buy-one-get-one-free giveaways and point-of-sale giveaways of non-cigarette items such as lighters.
  
  
• In 2000, tobacco companies spent $59.6 million in advertising expenditures for the most popular youth brands in youth oriented magazines.
  
  
• 88% of youth (12-17) smokers prefers Marlboro, Camel and Newport -- the three most heavily advertised brands.
  
  
• Thirty percent of youth ages 12-17, both smokers and non-smokers, own a least one tobacco promotional item, such as a T-shirt, backpack or CD player.
  
  
• A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that teens are more likely to be influenced to smoke by cigarette advertising than they are by peer pressure.
  
  
• Multinational tobacco companies are also engaged in an aggressive overseas expansion. Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco and British American Tobacco (the parent company of U.S. based Brown & Williamson), the world's three largest multinational cigarette companies, now each own or lease plants in at least 50 countries.

Sources

U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Cigarette Report 2000, http:/www.ftc.gov/os/2002/05/2002cigrpt.pdf, 2002.

King Charles and M. Siegel, "The Master Settlement Agreement with the Tobacco Industry and Cigarette Advertising in Magazines", New England Journal of Medicine 345 (7): 504-511 (August 16, 2001).

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, HHS Summary Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 2001.

Gallup International Institute, "Teenage Attitudes and Behaviors Concerning Tobacco" (September, 1992).

Evans, N., et al., "Influence of Tobacco Marketing and Exposure to Smokers on Adolescent Susceptibility to Smoking," Journal of the National Cancer Institute 87 (20): 1538-45 (October 1995)

World Health Organization, World Health Report 1999 (Geneva, World Health Organization, 1997).

"International Cigarette Manufacturers," Tobacco Reporter, June 2000.