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

Objectives To examine young people's awareness of and involvement with toba cco marketing and to determine the association, if any,between this and the ir smoking behaviour. Design Cross sectional, quantitative survey, part interview and part self c ompletion, administered in respondents' homes. Setting North east England. Participants Stratified random sample of 629 young people aged 15 and 16 ye ars who had "opted in" to research through a postal consent procedure. Results There was a high level of awareness of and involvement in tobacco m arketing among the 15-16 year olds sampled in the study: around 95% were aw are of advertising and all were aware of some method of paint of sale marke ting. Awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing were both signifi cantly associated with being a smoker: for example, 30% (55/185) of smokers had received free Sifts through coupons in cigarette packs, compared with 11% (21/199) of non-smokers (P < 0.001). When other factors known to be lin ked with teenage smoking were held constant, awareness of coupon schemes, b rand sc-etching, and tobacco marketing in general were all independently as sociated 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 wit h current smoking status. This suggests that the current voluntary regulati ons designed to protect young people from smoking are not working, and that statutory regulations are required.