SAFE GC Coalition: How Big Tobacco Entices Youth to Smoke

According to the American Lung Association (ALA), tobacco companies have decades of experience marketing their products to kids and teens. From ad campaigns to product placement to cartoon characters, Big Tobacco has spent thousands to entice kids to start smoking. These are deceptive tactics and gloss over the fact that tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The ALA maintains the only way the tobacco industry can make up for the adults who die from tobacco-related disease is to have kids start smoking. Every day, close to 1,000 youth under age 18 will smoke their first cigarette and close to 100 kids and teens who had previously been occasional cigarette smokers become regular daily cigarette smokers.

The following is a list of actions taken by tobacco companies to place kids at risk of a lifetime of addiction:

1. Marketing Candy- and Fruit-Flavored Products

The use of flavors in cigarettes with the glaring exception of menthol cigarettes, was prohibited in 2009, but flavored cigars, e-cigarettes and other tobacco products are still made and sold with candy and fruit flavorings. In April 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed two rules to remove menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars from the marketplace, however the rules have not yet been finalized by the White House. Individual states such as California and Massachusetts have ended the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.

2. Celebrity Endorsements

Famous names and well-known faces have a lot of influence on a child who might want to be just like their favorite rock star.

3. Misleading Health Claims

The tobacco industry has falsely promoted low harmful versions of their products for decades. However, light, low tar or filtered cigarettes are not any less dangerous. In fact, a federal judge convicted the major tobacco companies on racketeering charges in part because they lied to the public with their health claims. The truth is that the risk of dying from smoking has increased over the last 50 years while most smokers switched to these falsely advertised "healthier" cigarette types.

4. Smoking is Just a Game

The tobacco industry frequently uses sweepstakes and contests to get people hooked and keep the profits rolling ex- Camel Crush sweepstakes ad. However, smoking is anything but a game. It ultimately kills up to half of long-term users.

5. Coupons and QR Codes

The cost of cigarettes has a very significant effect on youth smoking. Price discounts are among the largest of the tobacco industry’s marketing expenditures. But even if they are practically giving them away now, the tobacco industry will recoup its money over the lifetime of kids newly addicted to their products – and once the QR code is scanned, the industry can contact people directly through their phones.

6. Ads Online and in Popular Magazines

Found in the April 2023 edition of Sports Illustrated

Big Tobacco pushes their message by placing large ads in magazines and publications that are popular with kids. The more exposure adolescents and teens have to tobacco advertising, the more likely they are to start smoking.

7. Product Placement on TV and in Movies

1962 Flintstones cartoon selling Winston's cigarettes

Saturday morning cartoons have been the staple of children across the U.S. for the past half century, but Big Tobacco has compromised this innocent memory, placing their products in cartoons, normalizing their appearance to kids.

8. Cartoon Characters

"Smooth" cartoon characters such as Joe Camel were deployed to appeal to young audiences at an impressionable age.

9. In-store Promotions

Tobacco advertisements and promotions are displayed in front, center and back of convenience stores, gas stations and other retail locations frequented by youth, including some retailers with pharmacies. It’s not a coincidence that the average height of these advertisements is at the eye level of youth. The vast majority of the industry’s marketing dollars are spent in retail stores.

10. Replacement Smokers

Referring to youth as their "replacement smokers," tobacco companies aggressively advertise to youth as older smokers age out.

SAFE, Inc. is the only alcohol and substance abuse prevention, intervention, and education agency in the City of Glen Cove. The Coalition is concerned about juvenile brain development and nicotine use and seeks to raise awareness of the need to educate the public on the dangers of all tobacco products, reducing youth’s exposure to tobacco marketing at their local retailers.

To learn more about the SAFE Glen Cove Coalition please follow www.facebook.com/safeglencove or to learn more about electronic products visit the Youth and Tobacco Use and Vaping Facts and Myths Pages of SAFE’s website to learn more about how nicotine is detrimental to your health www.safeglencove.org.