OUTDOOR TOBACCO ADVERTISING IN 6 BOSTON NEIGHBORHOODS - EVALUATING YOUTH EXPOSURE

Background: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in its 1996 regula tions to restrict certain forms of cigarette advertising likely to app eal to adolescents, prohibited outdoor tobacco advertising within 1,00 0 feet of schools and playgrounds. No published studies have determine d the density of outdoor tobacco advertising within the FDA's prescrib ed 1,000-foot buffer zone around schools. Objective: To determine the prevalence, type, and proximity to public schools of all stationary, o utdoor tobacco advertising in six Boston neighborhoods. Design: A cros s-sectional field survey conducted in six Boston neighborhoods with va rying ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic characteristics. The main ou tcome measure was advertising density within buffer zones around publi c schools.Results: Youth in the six neighborhoods are heavily exposed to stationary, outdoor cigarette advertising. This exposure is intense in areas close to public schools, and more intense in neighborhoods w ith more children, with significant Black and Hispanic/Latino populati ons, and with low socioeconomic status. Advertising strategies employe d by the tobacco industry are in line with accepted professional marke ting practice that targets adolescents for other products.Conclusions: Given the pervasive nature of the outdoor tobacco advertising we obse rved in the present study, it appears that the only way to protect you th from exposure is by eliminating it from the community.