Youth exposed to smokeless tobacco ads despite settlement…

October 15, 2007 - Youth exposed to smokeless tobacco ads despite settlement… A 1998 settlement designed to limit the marketing of smokeless tobacco to youth hasn’t been effective, according to a new University of Georgia (GA) study by Dean Krugman, professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication published in the early online edition of the American Journal of Public Health. When the major cigarette producers signed the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) a similar agreement known as the Smokeless Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (STMSA) was signed by the attorneys general and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, the largest smokeless tobacco manufacturer. To gauge advertising exposure and whether smokeless tobacco companies have complied with the STMSA, Krugman and his colleagues analyzed data on readership and advertising in popular magazines over a 10-year period. At both the beginning and the end of the study period, roughly two-thirds of youth were exposed to smokeless tobacco advertising in magazines (66 and 64 percent, respectively). The study found that smokeless tobacco advertising in magazines actually increased in the first year after the STMSA went into effect, reaching 83 percent of adolescents. Exposure dropped sharply to 57 percent in 2000, but rates steadily increased in later years. Krugman is especially concerned about the test marketing of Marlboro and Camel branded smokeless products, which he said will have an instant appeal to youth. “They’re testing products with brand names that have been overwhelmingly successful with young people,” Krugman said. “The power of those brands will create a built-in appeal for their smokeless products.” (GA study: Youth exposed to smokeless tobacco ads despite settlement by: Sam Fahmy) In the U.S.A, Marlboro is by far the most popular cigarette among youth smokers, with nearly half the youth market, and Camel is one of the three most popular cigarette brands among youth. These brands are sure to tempt children to try these new smokeless products. (Philip Morris’ Launch of Smokeless Marlboro Product Shows Need For Congress To Grant FDA Authority Over Tobacco,Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids)