ADOLESCENT EXPOSURE TO CIGARETTE ADVERTISING IN MAGAZINES - AN EVALUATION OF BRAND-SPECIFIC ADVERTISING IN RELATION TO YOUTH READERSHIP

Context.-Understanding the relationship between cigarette advertising and youth smoking is essential to develop effective interventions. Mag azine advertising accounts for nearly half oi ail cigarette advertisin g expenditures. Objective.-To investigate whether cigarette brands pop ular among adolescent smokers are more likely than adult brands to adv ertise in magazines with high adolescent readerships. Design.-Cross-se ctional analysis of 1994 data on (1) the presence of advertising by 12 cigarette brands in a sample of 39 popular US magazines; and (2) the youth (ages 12-17 years), young adult (ages 18-24 years), and total re adership for each magazine. Main Outcome Measures.-The presence or abs ence of advertising in each of the 39 magazines in 1994 for each of th e 12 cigarette brands. Results.-After controlling for total magazine r eadership, the percentage of young adult readers, advertising costs an d expenditures, and magazine demographics, youth cigarette brands (tho se smoked by more than 2.5% of 10- to 15-year-old smokers in 1993) wer e more likely than adult brands to advertise in magazines with a highe r percentage of youth readers. Holding all other variables constant at their sample means, the estimated probability of an adult brand adver tising in a magazine decreased over the observed range of youth reader ship from 0.73 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.50-0.96) for magazines with 4% youth readers to 0.18 (95% CI, 0.00-0.47) for magazines with 34% youth readers, In contrast, the estimated probability of a youth b rand advertising in a magazine increased from 0.32 (95% CI, 0.00-0.65) at 4% youth readership to 0.92 (95% CI, 0.67-1.00) at 34% youth reade rship. Conclusion.-Cigarette brands popular among young adolescents ar e more likely than adult brands to advertise in magazines with high yo uth readerships.