Studies: Tobacco Targeting Teens
By CAREN BENJAMIN
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Studies showing that cigarette makers have increased
advertising in magazines with large teen readerships, despite an agreement
not to market to young people, should incite state and congressional action,
tobacco critics said.
``I call on Congress to give the FDA meaningful authority to regulate the
marketing, sale and manufacturing of tobacco products,'' President Clinton
said after the studies were released Wednesday.
State attorneys general are looking into whether the advertisements violate a
1998 agreement that settled lawsuits against cigarette manufacturers brought
by 46 states to recover the costs of treating sick smokers. The investigation
is in the discovery stage, said Washington Attorney General Christine
Gregoire.
The $206 billion settlement forbids tobacco companies from ``targeting''
persons under 18 in their advertising, marketing and promotions.
``We believe we have adhered to both the letter and the spirit of the tobacco
settlement,'' said Tom Ryan, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA.
One of the studies was by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and
the other was done by the American Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit group
funded by the settlement.
Whether the studies are evidence of violation of the agreement is unclear,
said Dr. Greg Connolly, director of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control
Program.
``It's a very good start but more research may be needed,'' he said.
The Massachusetts study compared cigarette advertising expenditures in
magazines before and after the settlement, focusing on 19 popular magazines
with more than 15 percent of their readership between the ages of 12 and 17.
Fifteen percent was the level used by the Food and Drug administration in its
efforts to regulate tobacco. Magazines in that category include Rolling
Stone, Glamour, Sports Illustrated and Motor Trend.
Examples included a Rolling Stone issue with teen-age singing star Britney
Spears on the front cover and a full-page Marlboro ad on the back.
In the first nine months of 1999, cigarette makers spent $119.9 million
advertising, much of it on brands most popular with young smokers, in
magazines with a significant percentage of teen readers, the study found.
That is almost $30 million more than was spent in the same magazines in the
corresponding period before the settlement, the study said.
A similar study by the American Legacy Foundation found more than 70 percent
of teen-agers in 1999 had seen cigarette advertisements often enough to
notice them and understand their content.
Advertisements for Marlboro reached 89 percent of teen-agers, the study
found.
A spokesman for one cigarette maker, Brown and Williamson, said the company
has already pulled any advertising from magazines with a significant
percentage of readers under 21.
The company disputes the studies' method of assessing readers which is based
on commercial marketing surveys. Brown and Williamson gets demographic data
from the magazines themselves, said Mark Smith, spokesman for the
Kentucky-based company.
Anti-smoking advocates call the companies' protestations disingenuous.
``Today's disclosure proves that the tobacco industry will only stop
marketing to our children when they are forced to do so,'' said Matthew
Myers, president of the campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
The group is pushing for legislation that would allow the FDA to regulate
tobacco. Myers also called on Congress to strike down a measure that would
cut off funding for the federal government's lawsuit against tobacco
companies. And he called on state attorney's general to act by enforcing the
settlement.
On the Net: http://www.rjr.com
http://www.philipmorris.com
http://tobaccofreekids.org
http://americanlegacy.org
AP-NY-05-18-00 0341EDT
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