4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2005
KU study shows marketing works
Targeted CONTINUE FROM PAGE 14
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
is spent marketing to the age group of students attending the University of Kansas and other state colleges and universities.
Tobacco companies spend more money on advertising now than they ever have before. The amount spent in the United States first made a big jump when it grew from $6.9 billion in 1998 to $8.4 billion in 1999, according to the Federal Trade Commission. By 2003, they were spending more than $15.2 billion.
Targeting college-aged people appears to be working, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage of smokers between the ages of 18 and 24 in 2004,23.6 percent, was more than the percentage of adult smokers overall,20.9 percent.
A study by Won Choi, assistant professor of preventative medicine at the KU Medical Center, showed that students were particularly receptive to tobacco advertising.
Choi and fellow researchers surveyed 365 KU students between January and May, 2001, and found more than 37 percent of student smokers in the study were highly receptive to such advertising, while almost 61 percent were moderately receptive.
Receptivity to advertising was judged by whether they could name their favorite tobacco advertisement, if they were willing to use promotional items provided by tobacco companies and whether they attended concerts and clubs that featured tobacco marketing.
Choi said he found that most
Keeping student smokers smoking is also an aim of the companys' marketing techinques, said Won Choi assistant professor of preventative medicine.
college students could identify their favorite tobacco ad, which shows just how much tobacco companies target them.
Cigarette companies keep this in mind when they pick the bright colors and the young, attractive people of both sexes featured in their print ads, Choi said. Companies also carefully consider what items college students would want when they select the gifts.
Even though cigarette advertising is currently banned in Canada and Western Europe, it is still legal to advertise tobacco in the United States. Whether the way they target students is ethical is another story, said Linda Lee, associate professor of journalism, who teaches a class in media ethics for both news and advertising students.
Tobacco companies are "diabolically clever" in their advertising techniques to students, Lee said. By offering free samples at
bars — places where alcohol is consumed and people are a little less reserved — students are more able to let go of their inhibitions about cigarettes and give them a try, she said. And it doesn't hurt that the student peers, who look like them, are handing them out. It just convinces them further, she said.
Lawrence bars benefit from having the representatives give out their wares. The Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St., gets paid monthly by RJ. Reynolds Tobacco Company to hand out its Camel brand cigarettes. Red Lyon Tavern, 944 Massachusetts, gets paid quarterly by Philip Morris for letting Marlboro, one of its brands, hand out lighters, said Jerry Neverve, owner of the establishment. He refused to disclose the amount, but he did say it was "very small." And if they started handing out cigarettes, he said he "did not know" if he would let
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5A
All credible authorities "agree that tobacco companies had lied to the American public."
MARKET EXPENSES
Amount spent on advertising:
- 1998
$6.9 billion
-1999
$8.4 billion
-2000
$9.5 billion
2001
$11.2 billion
-2002
2003
$12.4 billion
$15.2 billion
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention