Tobacco-Free Kids Campaign: Research Shows Marlboro, Camel Campaigns Will Be
Responsible for 600,000 Tobacco-Related Deaths
Copyright 1998 U.S. Newswire
August 3, 1998
The following was released today for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids:
The Marlboro Man and the late Joe Camel ad campaigns had such a powerful
influence on adolescents that they alone can be held directly responsible for
encouraging four million kids to experiment with cigarettes over the past
decade; at least 600,000 of those kids will eventually die from tobacco-
related disease as a result, new research shows.
These are the findings of Dr. John Pierce, the Sam M. Walton Professor for
Cancer Research at the University of California/San Diego's Department of Family and
Preventive
Medicine. Dr. Pierce recently analyzed data on how preferences among children
for tobacco advertising and promotional items are correlated with later smoking
behavior, along with data on the number of premature deaths projected for teen
smokers attributable to tobacco-related disease.
Building
upon his February 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association, which looked at the influence of all tobacco marketing on later
smoking behavior, Dr. Pierce's new work leads to some startling conclusions:
-- Tobacco marketing campaigns between 1988 and 1997 are responsible
for 6 million adolescents experimenting with cigarettes. Of those, 2.6 million
kids took their first puffs as a result of the Joe Camel campaign; another 1. 4
million tried smoking because of the Marlboro campaign.
-- Tobacco marketing campaigns from the past decade will be directly
responsible for 900,000 future smoking-related deaths of people who became
regular smokers as kids as a result of ads and promotional items. Of these,
400,000 deaths can be attributed to the Joe Camel campaign; another 200,000
deaths
can be attributed to the Marlboro campaign.
"These new findings show a direct effect between tobacco marketing and smoking
initiation among children," said Bill Novelli, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
"It shows that R.J Reynolds and Philip Morris' campaigns are working tragically
well."
Dr. Pierce said the results show how susceptible even confirmed non- smoking
kids can be to the lure of seductive ads and free promotional items.
" The children we surveyed had never smoked, but a significant percentage still
said they had favorite tobacco ads or wore items of
tobacco gear. Later, what you see is that these kids are more open to
experimenting with cigarettes and a large portion of them eventually become
addicted."
Novelli said Congress should consider these new data as it continues its work
on tobacco control legislation.
"Any bill that doesn't include restrictions on tobacco
marketing to kids simply won't be effective in bringing down teen smoking
rates, or reducing the number of kids who will eventually die from tobacco use," he said.
Dr. Pierce presented his findings at the Addicted to Nicotine conference
sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in
Bethesda, Md., on July 27- 28, 1998.
------
For further information about Dr. Pierce's findings, or to arrange an
interview with Dr. Pierce, please call Jennifer Thorp or Joel Spivak at 202-
296-5469.
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