Children, Smoking and Advertising: What Does the Research Really Tell Us?

Abstract

Calls for the banning of tobacco advertising rely heavily on the belief that advertising contributes towards children starting or continuing the habit. A number of research studies which claim to demonstrate this connection have been reviewed. Some of these studies have been extensively quoted in anti-smoking literature. This paper is based on a detailed review.The review found that the studies tended to show a degree of correlation between awareness/approval of advertising and propensity to smoke, but failed to establish a causal link, relying instead on emotive language to convey the impression of cause and effect. From evidence quoted in the studies themselves, it can be demonstrated that, even if advertising can lead children to smoke (which can neither be proved nor disproved), it is likely to be an influence of only minor importance, and much less relevant than other factors such as family environment and peer pressure.There is no evidence in any of the studies to suggest that, if advertising were banned, it would make the least difference to the propensity of children to smoke. The major weakness of the studies reviewed is that they pay virtually no attention to the more important question of what, in fact, motivates the minority of children who start to smoke. It is hard to resist the conclusion that advertising is selected for attack mainly because it is a relatively easy target.