Point of Purchase (POP)/Retail Advertising

Tobacco retail advertising reaches kids…

• In a British Medical Journal study, 95% of 15-16 year olds surveyed were aware of tobacco advertising. All 15-16 year olds surveyed were aware of some method of point of purchase marketing.11
  
  
• 75% of teenagers shop in convenience stores at least once per week.12
  
  
• Kids are more than twice as likely as adults to recall tobacco advertising. A national telephone survey revealed that while only 23% of adults recalled seeing tobacco advertising the past 2 weeks, 55% of kids recalled seeing the advertising.13
  

…and it greatly increases their likelihood of smoking.

• “The conclusion that there is a causal relationship between tobacco marketing and smoking seems unassailable.”14
  
  
• Teens are significantly more likely to smoke due to advertising than they are due to peer pressure.15
  
  
  
• A 2002 study showed that exposure to convenience store tobacco advertising causes teens to perceive significantly easier access to cigarettes, and to express weakened support for tobacco control policies. These findings suggest that convenience store tobacco advertising distorts adolescent’s perceptions about the availability, use, and popularity of tobacco products.16

• The majority (70%) of 7th graders are at least moderately receptive to tobacco marketing materials. And children more receptive to marketing are also more susceptible to start smoking. 17
  
  
  
• Teens are significantly more likely than adults to be influenced by advertising and promotion in convenience stores (73% to 47%). In-store displays (51%), banner/window signs (47%), and in-store promotional signage (44%) are the convenience store advertising/promotional methods most likely to influence teen purchases. These methods only have 36%, 33%, and 32% likelihoods (respectively) of influencing adult purchases.18
  
  
• An estimated 1/3 of adolescent experimentation with smoking can be directly attributed to tobacco advertising and promotional activities. Perhaps this is because tobacco advertising is so attractive to kids: nonsmoking children that have a favorite cigarette ad are two times more likely to begin smoking in the future than those who do not. 19

Yet tobacco companies keep at it…

"[T]he base of our business is the high school student.”

- Lorillard Tobacco Company Executive, 1978.

• The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) was established to reduce children’s exposure to tobacco advertising, and yet...
  
  
• In the year following the MSA coming into effect, there was no significant drop in retail store tobacco ads placed less than 3.5 feet from the ground, there was an increase in both prevalence and extent of exterior store signage, and there was a significant increase in point-of-purchase promotional activity.20

Because they know that brand loyalty starts young.

• Among adolescents, the advertisements most likely to be seen, to be liked, and to be viewed as making smoking more appealing, are for the brands most commonly smoked by adolescents, Camel and Marlboro. Over 40% of adolescents feel that Marlboro ads make smoking more appealing, and nearly half feel that Camel ads make smoking more appealing.21
  
  
• Each day, more than 4,000 kids try smoking for the first time, and another 2,000 kids become regular daily smokers. 85% of these youth smokers prefer Marlboro, Camel, and Newport – three of the most heavily advertised brands. 22

Marlboro’s phenomenal growth rate in the past has been attributable in large part to our high market penetration among young smokers…15 to 19 years old…my own data, which includes younger teenagers, shows even higher Marlboro market penetration among 15-17-year-olds.”

- Philip Morris report, 1975.

Download a copy of the September 2007 Report, Retail Advertising and Promotions for Cigarettes in New York (PDF, 249KB, 32pg.)

References

11MacFayden, Linda, et al. “Cross sectional study of young people’s awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing.” BMJ. March 2001; 332:513-517.

12The Point of Purchase Advertising Industry Fact Book. Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI). 1992.

13“National telephone survey of 501 kids aged 12 to 17 and 1,012 adults conducted for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (TFK)” International Communications Teen Excel Study. March 2004.

14National Cancer Institute. “Changing Adolescent Smoking Prevalence.” Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No.14. NH Pub. No. 02-5086, November 2001.

15Evans, N, et al. “Influence of Tobacco Marketing and Exposure to Smokers on Adolescent Susceptibility to Smoking.” Journal of the National Cancer Institute. October 1995; 87(19): 1538-1545.

16Henrickson, Lisa, et al. “Effects of youth Exposure to retail tobacco advertising.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 2002; 32(9):1771-1789.

17Feighery, Ellen, et al. “Seeing, wanting, owning: the relationship between receptivity to tobacco marketing and smoking susceptibility in young people.” Tobacco Control. 1998; 7:123-128.

18Anon. “Study Finds C-Store Promotions Lacking” U.S. Distribution Journal. May 1999; 226(3):12.

19Pierce, John P., et al. “Tobacco industry promotion of cigarettes and adolescent smoking.” JAMA. February 1998; 279(7):511-515.

20Wakefield, Melanie, et al. “Changes at the point-of-sale for tobacco following the 1999 tobacco billboard ban.” ImpacTeen Research Paper Series. July 2000; 4:1-17.

21Arnett, Jeffrey J. and Terhanian, George. “Adolescents’ responses to cigarette advertisements : links between exposure, liking, and the appeal of smoking.” Tobacco Control. 1998; 7:129-133.

22Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “Results from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.” 2003.

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If you are a retail store owner, take action and reduce, rearrange or eliminate YOUR tobacco advertising. And be sure to let us know if you do.