Advertising and Smoking Maintenance

The debate concerning the effects of advertising on smoking has suffered from a lack of recognition that there are various stages of smoking and that advertising may have no or different effects at different stages. This article attempts to correct this. The factors influencing smoking initiation and maintenance are defined. Studies employing aggregate analyses to determine the effects of smoking are found unenlightening and inconsistent. At the individual level, it is unlikely that advertising would have a direct effect on consumption by non-smokers. Tobacco advertising conceivably might have indirect and difficult to measure effects, but any such effects would vary depending upon a particular individual's smoking stage. Research is needed to determine if any such hypothetical effects exist.