azines published from 1986 to 1994, fifteen of which were youth magazines. These studies found that tobacco advertisements made up sixty seven percent of all ads placed in the youth magazines. This same group of researchers interviewed twenty-five teens between the ages of fifteen and seventeen. When these teens were asked why they started smoking, they gave two main reasons. They wanted to be a part if a peer group and to reach out and rebel. Two of the youth magazines where tobacco ads were the most prominent, Spin and Rolling Stone, represent rebelling, independence, acceptance, and happiness. These are all things that young people desire, and by having ads in these magazines, the fire for teenage smoking as further fueled (Thomas). When advertising became a popular means of selling a product, the tobacco industries target audience was women and today it is children. The average age that children start smoking today is twelve. In fact, ninety percent of all adult smokers said that they lit up for the first time as teenagers. The most potent force behind coaxing them into smoking is advertising (Bailey 51). Statistics show three million children under eighteen smoke in America today. Three thousand teens start smoking each day meaning that one point one million start each year (Trillin 2). To no ones surprise, teenagers smoke the most heavily advertised cigarette brands. Marlboro, Camel, and Newport are the three top sellers and the three most advertised brands. The most advertised brand is always the most smoked by teens, proving that advertising influences them to smoke a particular brand (Bailey 129). An extensive study done by professor Richard Pollay also found that when a companys advertising budget increased, its market share increased only three percent for adults but over nine percent for teenagers (Bailey 131). But what do these companies advertise- not statistics of the harmful effects smoking creates or the number of dea...
