- THURSDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) — Mass media has the power to
both encourage tobacco use, especially among young people, and to
discourage it, according to a landmark study released Thursday by the U.S.
National Cancer Institute.

“This is the first report to conclude that tobacco advertising and
promotion increases tobacco use,” said Melanie Wakefield, senior
scientific editor of the report, The Role of the Media in Promoting and
Reducing Tobacco Use.

“It's the first report to make the conclusion that there is a causal
relationship between exposure to depiction of smoking in the movies and
youth beginning to smoke,” she said.

The findings in the hefty, nearly 700-page report aren't all bad about
media and its effects on tobacco use, however.

“Mass media can change youth attitudes about tobacco use,” Wakefield
said. Mass media campaigns to discourage tobacco use have proven to
change youth attitudes about tobacco, reduce the chances children will
smoke, and encourage adult cessation, the authors said during a press
conference in Washington, D.C.

The report, which took four years to compile, involved expert analysis
from 23 authors as well as input from numerous other experts, Wakefield
said. They analyzed more than 1,000 scientific studies on the role of
media in encouraging and discouraging tobacco use. The report reached
several major conclusions, including:

• Media play a key role in shaping knowledge, opinions, attitudes and
  behaviors among people and within communities. “Cigarettes are one of the
  most heavily marketed products in the United States,” the authors wrote.
  Tobacco manufacturers in the United States spent about $250 billion (in
  2006 dollars) between 1940 and 2005 on cigarette advertising and
  promotion. Most of this, the authors found, was allocated to promotional
  activities, such as price discounts, which are particularly attractive to
  youth.
• The tobacco industry lures smokers with three themes: That tobacco
  provides satisfaction, that the dangers of tobacco shouldn't provoke
  anxiety, and that tobacco is associated with desirable outcomes such as
  social success.
• A causal relationship exists between tobacco promotion and ads and
  increased tobacco use.
• Depiction of smoking is still pervasive in movies. It occurs in
  three-quarters or more of contemporary box-office hits. This exposure
  leads to more youth smoking.
• On the positive side, media campaigns meant to reduce tobacco use do
  work, helping to change youth attitudes about tobacco, thereby reducing
  the chances children will start smoking.

The authors noted a nationwide decline in smoking — about a 50 percent
drop in adult smoking over the past 40 years — but pointed out that one
in five Americans still smokes, and more than 4,000 children and teens
smoke their first cigarette each day.

Citing statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the report authors said cigarette smoking is responsible for
more than 400,000 premature deaths each year, and reduces the life
expectancy of smokers by an average of 14 years.

“The report stops at synthesizing the evidence,” Wakefield said. “Now
it is up to the government to consider the evidence and think about what
it needs to do in terms of advertising and promotion.”

While the report was released by the U.S. National Cancer Institute,
“other nations will take note of this report,” she said.

William Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids,
who also spoke at the press conference, said: “This report sends an
unmistakable message to our elected officials that they can dramatically
reduce tobacco use by children and by adults by passing legislation that
would authorize the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco
products and by adequately funding their state prevention and cessation
programs.”

Bill Phelps, a spokesman for the Altria Group, the parent company of
Philip Morris USA, took issue with some of the findings. “It appears that
many of the conclusions in the report are based on marketing practices
that are more than 30 or 40 years old,” he said. “We think it's important
to focus on the marketing practices that we have in place today.”

He said that spending for cigarette brand advertising for Philip Morris
USA, which includes Marlboro cigarettes, has dropped 46 percent in the
past 10 years. Philip Morris supports federal legislation under
consideration to regulate tobacco products, he said.

In July, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that
would subject the tobacco industry to federal regulation, including
granting the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products. The Senate has
yet to act on a similar measure.

More information

For more on keeping kids free from tobacco, visit the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids.