Targeting Tactics in Selling Smoke: Youthful Aspects of 20th Century Cigarette Advertising

A descriptive history reveals the strategic interest in the young manifested by the cigarette industry from 1920 to the present. The tobacco and advertising trade presses, FTC records and recently disclosed corporate documents display and discuss the targeting of adolescents and collegians. They also document the rationale and results of media choices, the use of cartoons, and especially the use of images of independence to appeal to the psychological need of adolescents. The implications for both the private sector and public policy are discussed, given this persistent targeting of youth and failure of regulation to curtail most of these tactics.