Smoke signs: patterns of tobacco billboard advertising in a metropolitan region.
(17/893)
OBJECTIVE: To use geographic information systems data and analyses to describe locations and characteristics of tobacco billboards in a large metropolitan area, and to assess the extent to which tobacco companies are locating billboards in close proximity to minority neighbourhoods and schools. DESIGN: Observational study of billboards in a large metropolitan region. SETTING: City and county of St Louis, Missouri. PARTICIPANTS: All stationary billboards in the city and county of St Louis were eligible to be observed, with the exception of bus stop and street side retail advertising signs (for example, cigarette advertising at gas stations). A total of 1239 non-blank billboards were observed. All data were collected in early 1998. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Tobacco and non-tobacco billboard geographic distribution; billboard type and product brand frequencies; and billboard neighbourhood characteristics. RESULTS: Almost 20% of the billboards contained tobacco advertising. Four of the top five and nine of the top 22 brands displayed on billboards were tobacco products. Billboards were located in all areas of St Louis except for the communities with the highest average incomes. Tobacco billboards were more likely to be found in low income areas and areas with a higher percentage of African Americans. Images of African American figures on tobacco billboards were concentrated in the most heavily African American populated regions of the city. Approximately 74% of all billboards in the city of St Louis were within 2000 feet (700 metres) of public school property. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco products were the single most heavily advertised type of product on billboards in St Louis. The geographic distribution of tobacco billboards, as well as the types of images found on these billboards, is consistent with the hypothesis that tobacco companies are targeting poor and minority communities with their advertising. Methods employing geographic information systems are a powerful technique for examining outdoor tobacco advertising. (+info)
Investing in youth tobacco control: a review of smoking prevention and control strategies.
(18/893)
OBJECTIVE: To provide a comprehensive review of interventions and policies aimed at reducing youth cigarette smoking in the United States, including strategies that have undergone evaluation and emerging innovations that have not yet been assessed for efficacy. DATA SOURCES: Medline literature searches, books, reports, electronic list servers, and interviews with tobacco control advocates. DATA SYNTHESIS: Interventions and policy approaches that have been assessed or evaluated were categorised using a typology with seven categories (school based, community interventions, mass media/public education, advertising restrictions, youth access restrictions, tobacco excise taxes, and direct restrictions on smoking). Novel and largely untested interventions were described using nine categories. CONCLUSIONS: Youth smoking prevention and control efforts have had mixed results. However, this review suggests a number of prevention strategies that are promising, especially if conducted in a coordinated way to take advantage of potential synergies across interventions. Several types of strategies warrant additional attention and evaluation, including aggressive media campaigns, teen smoking cessation programmes, social environment changes, community interventions, and increasing cigarette prices. A significant proportion of the resources obtained from the recent settlement between 46 US states and the tobacco industry should be devoted to expanding, improving and evaluating "youth centred" tobacco prevention and control activities. (+info)
Exposure of black youths to cigarette advertising in magazines.
(19/893)
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the potential exposure of black adolescents to brand specific advertising in magazines. DESIGN: A probit regression analysis was conducted of pooled 1990 and 1994 data on brand specific advertising in 36 popular US magazines to examine the relationship between the presence or absence of advertising in each magazine for each of 12 cigarette brands, and the proportion of each magazine's youth (ages 12-17 years) readers who were black. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The presence or absence of advertising in each magazine in 1990 and 1994, for each of 12 cigarette brands. RESULTS: After controlling for total magazine readership and the percentage of young adult, Hispanic, and female readers, black youth cigarette brands (those whose market share among black youths exceeded their overall market share) were more likely than other brands to advertise in magazines with a higher percentage of black youth readers. Holding all other variables constant at their sample means, the probability of a non-black youth brand advertising in a magazine decreased over the observed range of percentage black youth readership from 0.65 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.55 to 0.75) for magazines with 5% black youth readers to 0.33 (95% CI 0.00 to 0.69) for magazines with 91% black youth readers. In contrast, the probability of a black youth brand advertising in a magazine increased from 0.40 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.62) at 5% black youth readership to 1.00 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.00) at 91% black youth readership. CONCLUSIONS: Black youths are more likely than white youths to be exposed to magazine advertising by cigarette brands popular among black adolescents. (+info)
Case study of attempts to enact self service tobacco display ordinances: a tale of three communities.
(20/893)
OBJECTIVE: To examine self service tobacco displays (SSTDs) and youth retail tobacco access by comparing longitudinal illegal tobacco sales rates in three communities in Santa Barbara County, California, that considered or implemented ordinances banning SSTDs. A confirmatory survey was also conducted to substantiate the longitudinal data. DESIGN: A longitudinal case study design was utilised. Five undercover tobacco buys were conducted between 1994 and 1997 (n = 332). In addition, one confirmatory survey was conducted in a geographically separated area, which had no ordinances banning SSTDs (n = 57). RESULTS: Decreases in youth buy rates were reported in all three communities. Most notably, the first city to enact a SSTD ban, Carpinteria, achieved a 0% sales rate, which was maintained throughout the study period. In contrast, Santa Barbara and Goleta experienced considerable drops in their illegal sales rates, but neither community obtained results as dramatic as those found in Carpinteria. The confirmatory survey showed that 32.1% of stores with SSTDs sold cigarettes to minors; this compares to a sales rate of 3.4% in stores without SSTDs (chi(2) (1) = 8.11, p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to enact self service bans are likely to meet with retail and tobacco industry opposition, as was the case in this study's three communities. The process of community debate, resultant publicity surrounding the issue, and enactment of SSTD ordinances may serve to not only increase merchant awareness of youth tobacco laws and their penalties but also may contribute to reduced youth cigarette sales rates. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed. (+info)
The impact of an antismoking media campaign on progression to established smoking: results of a longitudinal youth study.
(21/893)
OBJECTIVES: We examined the impact of a statewide antismoking media campaign on progression to established smoking among Massachusetts adolescents. METHODS: We conducted a 4-year longitudinal survey of 592 Massachusetts youths, aged 12 to 15 years at baseline in 1993. We examined the effect of baseline exposure to television, radio, and outdoor antismoking advertisements on progression to established smoking (defined as having smoked 100 or more cigarettes), using multiple logistic regression and controlling for age; sex; race; baseline smoking status; smoking by parents, friends, and siblings; television viewing; and exposure to antismoking messages not related to the media campaign. RESULTS: Among younger adolescents (aged 12 to 13 years at baseline), those reporting baseline exposure to television antismoking advertisements were significantly less likely to progress to established smoking (odds ratio = 0.49, 95% confidence interval = 0.26, 0.93). Exposure to television antismoking advertisements had no effect on progression to established smoking among older adolescents (aged 14 to 15 years at baseline), and there were no effects of exposure to radio or outdoor advertisements. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the television component of the Massachusetts antismoking media campaign may have reduced the rate of progression to established smoking among young adolescents. (+info)
Direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising: trends, impact, and implications.
(22/893)
We provide an overview of what is known about the impact of direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs. Specifically, we explore the historical trends that led to the industry's increasing use of this form of promotion. Then, using the published literature to date, we review the impact of DTC advertising on the consumer, the medical profession, and the health care system. We conclude by offering policy suggestions for how the pharmaceutical industry can promote its products more responsibly, how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can regulate DTC advertising more effectively, and how the medical and public health communities can educate the public about drug therapies more constructively. (+info)
Chewing gum--facts and fiction: a review of gum-chewing and oral health.
(23/893)
The world market for chewing gum is estimated to be 560,000 tons per year, representing approximately US $5 billion. Some 374 billion pieces of chewing gum are sold worldwide every year, representing 187 billion hours of gum-chewing if each piece of gum is chewed for 30 minutes. Chewing gum can thus be expected to have an influence on oral health. The labeling of sugar-substituted chewing gum as "safe for teeth" or "tooth-friendly" has been proven beneficial to the informed consumer. Such claims are allowed for products having been shown in vivo not to depress plaque pH below 5.7, neither during nor for 30 minutes after the consumption. However, various chewing gum manufacturers have recently begun to make distinct health promotion claims, suggesting, e.g., reparative action or substitution for mechanical hygiene. The aim of this critical review--covering the effects of the physical properties of chewing gum and those of different ingredients both of conventional and of functional chewing gum--is to provide a set of guidelines for the interpretation of such claims and to assist oral health care professionals in counseling patients. (+info)
Failure to defend a successful state tobacco control program: policy lessons from Florida.
(24/893)
OBJECTIVES: This investigation sought to define policy and political factors related to the undermining of Florida's successful Tobacco Pilot Program in 1999. METHODS: Data were gathered from interviews with public health lobbyists, tobacco control advocates, and state officials; news reports; and public documents. RESULTS: As a result of a recent legal settlement with Florida, the tobacco industry agreed to fund a youth anti-smoking pilot program. The program combined community-based interventions and advertisements. In less than 1 year, the teen smoking prevalence rate dropped from 23.3% to 20.9%. The program also enjoyed high public visibility and strong public support. Nevertheless, in 1999, the state legislature cut the program's funding from $70.5 million to $38.7 million, and the Bush administration dismantled the program's administrative structure. Voluntary health agencies failed to publicly hold specific legislators and the governor responsible for the cuts. CONCLUSIONS: The legislature and administration succeeded in dismantling this highly visible and successful tobacco control program because pro-health forces limited their activities to behind-the-scenes lobbying and were unwilling to confront the politicians who made these decisions in a public forum. (+info)