A HISTORICAL-ANALYSIS OF TOBACCO MARKETING AND THE UPTAKE OF SMOKING BY YOUTH IN THE UNITED-STATES - 1890-1977

This article presents evidence for sex-specific temporal associations between major cigarette marketing campaigns and increases in youth smo king initiation using national survey data for 1910-1977 (N = 165,876) . Considerable smoking initiation occurred in males under 18 and born before 1890 when marketing focused only on males. Initiation in male y outh increased greatly during 1910-1919; in 1912, R. J. Reynolds launc hed its unprecedented campaign for Camel brand. Initiation in female y outh began in the mid-1920s, coincident with the Chesterfield and Luck y Strike women's marketing campaigns. In the late 1960s, smoking uptak e among young females again increased rapidly, coincident with large-s cale marketing of women's brands. Male initiation did not increase wit h these campaigns. Thus, in each instance, major marketing impact occu rred in youth smoking initiation only in the sex group targeted.