Cigarette Campaigns Hook
Youth with Lifestyle Ads
Excerpt By Suzanne Rostler, Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to creating anti-smoking campaigns, public health officials should take a page from cigarette advertisers' book, researchers suggest.

Their analysis of roughly 100 previously secret marketing reports, memos and strategic planning documents from tobacco companies revealed that cigarette advertising is largely focused on the consumer attitudes and lifestyles of young adults, who are on the brink of becoming fully addicted smokers or deciding not to smoke.

This group of 18- to 24-year-olds also serves as a role model for teenagers, who may try smoking for the first time, researchers point out in the June 12th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Market segmentation strategies based on the attitudes, lifestyle, aspirations and activities of young adults may be more useful than demographic data alone," conclude Drs. Pamela M. Ling and Stanton A. Glantz from the University of California, San Francisco.

"Physician counseling and public health campaigns that identify with the psychological needs and values of smokers and nonsmokers may improve smoking prevention and cessation efforts," they add.

According to their analysis, cost emerged as an important issue among young smokers during the 1980s. To attract potential consumers in this group, R. J. Reynolds began offering savings opportunities such as "buy one, get one free," coupons and free promotional items.

Philip Morris also discussed targeting smokers based on their leisure activities, political opinions, media use, attitudes and goals in its internal memos.

Over the next decade, smoking became less socially acceptable, which threatened to cut profits in the tobacco industry. Many smokers felt guilty about the effect of secondhand smoke on others. Based on this, R. J. Reynolds defined a new market segment, which it dubbed "Social Guilt." This segment accounted for roughly one quarter of the market.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Glantz suggested that clean indoor air and price increases might be effective targets of anti-smoking campaigns, based on the findings.

"We need to be concentrating more on young adults than teens and use the same marketing approaches that the tobacco industry does," he said.

For instance, anti-smoking campaigns that used a rebellious tone and encouraged young people to fight tobacco-industry manipulation were successful in the 1990s because they provided an alternative way to rebel.

"Exposing specific manipulative targeting in tobacco-industry campaigns, such as Philip Morris' program to reach black smokers with so-called inner-city bar nights...may be useful in reaching other rebellious smokers," the authors suggest.

SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;287:2983-

Reference Source 89

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