The master settlement agreement with the tobacco industry and cigarette advertising in magazines.

Background: In 1998, the attorneys general of 46 states signed a Master Set tlement Agreement with the four largest tobacco companies in the United Sta tes. The agreement prohibits tobacco advertising that targets people younge r than 18 years of age. Methods: We analyzed the trends in expenditures for advertising for 15 spec ific brands of cigarettes and the exposure of young people to cigarette adv ertising in 38 magazines between 1995 and 2000. We defined cigarette brands as "youth'' brands if they were smoked by more than 5 percent of the smoke rs in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades in 1998; all others were considered to be "adult'' brands. We classified magazines as youth-oriented magazines if at least 15 percent of their readers or at least 2 million of their reader s were 12 to 17 years old. "Reach,'' a standard measure of exposure to adve rtising, was defined as the number of young persons who read at least one i ssue of a magazine containing an advertisement for a particular brand of ci garette during a given year. Results: In 2000 dollars, the overall advertising expenditures for the 15 b rands of cigarettes in the 38 magazines were $238.2 million in 1995, $219.3 million in 1998, $291.1 million in 1999, and $216.9 million in 2000. Expen ditures for youth brands in youth-oriented magazines were $56.4 million in 1995, $58.5 million in 1998, $67.4 million in 1999, and $59.6 million in 20 00. Expenditures for adult brands in youth-oriented magazines were $72.2 mi llion, $82.3 million, $108.6 million, and $67.6 million, respectively. In 2 000, magazine advertisements for youth brands of cigarettes reached more th an 80 percent of young people in the United States an average of 17 times e ach. Conclusions: The Master Settlement Agreement with the tobacco industry appe ars to have had little effect on cigarette advertising in magazines and on the exposure of young people to these advertisements. (N Engl J Med 2001;34 5:504-11.) Copyright (C) 2001 Massachusetts Medical Society.