Cross sectional study of young people's awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing (2001)

FRANÇAIS :
Le tabac, les jeunes et le marketing. Une enquête réalisée auprès de 629 adolescents britanniques de 15 et 16 ans montre le retentissement des techniques de marketing sur le tabagisme des jeunes et la nécessité de se montrer très vigilant pour éviter leur enrôlement comme fumeurs au moyen de cadeaux divers. La très grand majorité d'entre eux sont parfaitement au courant des messages publicitaires utilisés par les industriels du tabac pour les inciter à fumer. Le fait de connaître ces messages et d'en tirer bénéfice est associé au fait d'être soi-même un fumeur. Par exemple, 30% de ceux qui fument ont reçu des cadeaux en échange de bons inclus dans les paquets de cigarettes. Ce n'est le cas que pour 11% des non-fumeurs. [Source : Impact Médecin Hebdo, n°527, 23 mars 2001, p.20]
ENGLISH:
OBJECTIVES. To examine young people's awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing and to determine the association, if any, between this and their smoking behaviour. DESIGN. Cross sectional, quantitative survey, part interview and part self completion, administered in respondents' homes. SETTING. North east England. PARTICIPANTS. Stratified random sample of 629 young people aged 15 and 16 years who had "opted in" to research through a postal consent procedure. RESULTS. There was a high level of awareness of and involvement in tobacco marketing among the 15-16 year olds sampled in the study: around 95% were aware of advertising and all were aware of some method of point of sale marketing. Awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing were both significantly associated with being a smoker: for example, 30% (55/185) of smokers had received free gifts through coupons in cigarette packs, compared with 11% (21/199) of non-smokers (P<0.001). When other factors known to be linked with teenage smoking were held constant, awareness of coupon schemes, brand stretching, and tobacco marketing in general were all independently associated with current smoking status. CONCLUSIONS. Teenagers are aware of, and are participating in, many forms of tobacco marketing, and both awareness and participation are associated with current smoking status. This suggests that the current voluntary regulations designed to protect young people from smoking are not working, and that statutory regulations are required.