An analysis of messages about tobacco in the Military Times magazines.
The Military Times magazines are seen as an independent source of news and information on the military and are widely read by military members. Given the influence of Military Times as a powerful media outlet within the military and marketing to military personnel by the tobacco industry, we examined tobacco messages and advertisements in a one-year sample from each service. No advertisements for cigarettes or other forms of smoked tobacco were found in any issue published in 2005. However, smokeless tobacco products were advertised frequently, with 11 distinct ads occurring in 105 ad placements. During the year targeted in the present study, smokeless tobacco advertising generated approximately US$564,249 in revenue for the publishers of Military Times. A content analysis suggested that the advertisements intended to pair smokeless tobacco use with a pleasant mood and enjoyable events not directly associated with the product itself. In addition, magazine articles about anti-tobacco topics received among the lowest amount of coverage among all pro-health articles. These findings may partially explain the recent significant increase in smokeless tobacco use among military personnel.
Haddock
C Keith
CK
Department of Informatic Medicine and Personalized Health, School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Western Missouri Mental Health Center, Kansas City, MO 64108, USA. haddockc@umkc.edu
Hoffman
Kevin
K
Taylor
Jennifer E
JE
Schwab
Lisa
L
Poston
Walker S C
WS
Lando
Harry A
HA
D000329:Advertising / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006266:Health Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012907:Smoking; D040241:Social Marketing; D019460:Tobacco Industry; D014481:United States