Using alcohol to sell cigarettes to young adults: a content analysis of cigarette advertisements.
OBJECTIVE
Advertising influences the health-related behaviors of college-aged individuals. Cigarette manufacturers aggressively market to young adults and may exploit their affinity for alcohol when creating advertisements designed to increase cigarettes' appeal. Internal tobacco industry documents reveal that cigarette manufacturers understood the popularity of alcohol among young adults and sought to produce pertinent marketing strategies.


METHODS
The authors conducted a content analysis of cigarette and alcohol advertisements in young adult-oriented magazines to investigate portrayed associations between cigarettes and alcohol.


RESULTS
The content analysis revealed that 32 of 114 cigarette advertisements referenced alcohol and that those advertisements were more likely than others to portray active smoking. Conversely, 0 of 317 alcohol advertisements referenced cigarettes, and alcohol advertisements were only slightly more likely than cigarette advertisements to feature alcohol-related settings.


CONCLUSIONS
Such advertising may detrimentally affect smoking patterns of college students. An understanding of these strategies can benefit on-campus tobacco control efforts.
Belstock
Sarah A
SA
Harvard School of Public Health. scunitz@post.harvard.edu
Connolly
Gregory N
GN
Carpenter
Carrie M
CM
Tucker
Lindsey
L
D000329:Advertising / Q000379:methods*; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking; D019460:Tobacco Industry / Q000379:methods*