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Marketing to America\\\'s youth: evidence from corporate documents

by K M Cummings, C P Morley, J K Horan, C Steger and N-R Leavell

Objective: To evaluate the claim that the tobacco industry does not market its products to youth. Design: The data for this study come from tobacco industry documents collected from the tobacco industry\\\\\\\'s document websites, presently linked at http://www.tobaccoarchives.com. The websites were searched \\\\\\\"request for production\\\\\\\" (RFP) codes, specified keyword searches, and serendipitous terms identified in document citations found with RFP and keyword searches. Results: Industry documents show that the cigarette manufacturers carefully monitored the smoking habits of teenagers over the past several decades. Candid quotes from industry executives refer to youth as a source of sales and as fundamental to the survival of the tobacco industry. The documents reveal that the features of cigarette brands (that is, use of filters, low tar, bland taste, etc), packaging (that is, size, colour and design), and advertising (that is, media placements and themes and imagery) were developed specifically to appeal to new smokers (that is, teenagers). Evidence also indicates that relevant youth oriented marketing documents may have been destroyed and that the language used in some of the more recent documents may have been sanitised to cover up efforts to market to youth.


1Cummings KM, Leavell N. Preventing youth smoking. Presentation at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting; Chicago, Illinois. November 1999.
2See the testimony of Lynn Beasley VP for Marketing at RJR in the Minnesota tobacco litigation. April 20, 1998 and the testimony of James Morgan, former CEO of Philip Morris Tobacco Company in the Minnesota tobacco litigation. April 22, 1998.
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4Philip Morris. Action against access [advertisement]. Roll call June 29, 1995, page 12.