Tobacco companies spend billions of dollars on marketing to target and recruit young people as replacement smokers. They use tactics like product design, pricing, placement, and advertising to make tobacco appealing and accessible to youth. The tobacco industry's business depends on getting young people to use their products long-term in order to addict a new generation of smokers.

1. FRAUD
A DEADLY

2. Each day in the
U.S. more than
2,500 kids will
try smoking for
the first time.
In North Dakota,
14,000 kids
under age 18
alive today,
will ultimately
die from
smoking.(1)

3. tobacco’s
devastating toll is no accident. It stems
directly from the tobacco industry’s deceitful
and even illegal practices.
Shockingly,
(2)

4. Defendants have marketed and
sold their lethal products with
zeal, with deception,
with a single-minded focus on
their financial success, and
without regard for the human
tragedy or social costs that
success exacted..
U.S. District Court Judge
Gladys Kessler in 2006
verdict against
cigarette companies
“
”

5. Today,
more than
3.6 million
U.S. middle
and high school
students smoke
cigarettes.(3)

6. Defendants spent enormous
resources tracking the
behaviors and preferences of
youth under twenty-one…to
start young people smoking and
to keep them smoking.
U.S. v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., et al.,
No. 99-CV-02496GK
“
”

7. for every person
who dies due to smoking – more
than 1,200 each day – at least two
youth or young adults become
regular smokers. Nearly 90% of
these “replacement smokers” try
their first cigarette by age 18.
In fact,
Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth
and Young Adults: A Report of the
Surgeon General, 2012
(3)

8. Defendants’ marketing activities
are intended to bring new, young,
and hopefully long-lived smokers
into the market in order to replace
those who die (largely from
tobacco-caused illnesses) or
quit…Defendants used their
knowledge of young people to
create highly sophisticated and
appealing marketing campaigns
targeted to lure them into
starting smoking and later
becoming nicotine addicts.
The Verdict is In: Findings from
United States v. Philip Morris
“
”

9. Tobacco companies
look to young people
as replacement
smokers.
The Tobacco
Industry

10. From the 1950s to the present,
different defendants, at different
times and using different methods,
have intentionally marketed to
young people under the age of
twenty-one in order to recruit
“replacement smokers” to ensure
the economic future of the
tobacco industry.
U.S. District Court Judge
Gladys Kessler Final opinion,
United States v. Philip Morris
“
”

11. Tobacco companies
use multiple methods
and spend lots of
money to convince
young people that
tobacco is okay –
even attractive. Their
business depends on
getting these young
consumers to try
and to keep using
their products.(3)

12. Young people
are responsive
to marketing,
making them
vulnerable
to messages
that encourage
tobacco use.(3)

13. Defendants spent billions
of dollars every year on their
marketing activities in order to
encourage young people to try
and then continue purchasing
their products in order to
provide the replacement
smokers they need
to survive.
The Verdict is In: Findings from
United States v. Philip Morris
“
”

14. Tobacco companies
spend nearly
$9.6 billion per year
to market
their products.
Tobacco companies lower
prices through coupons
and other promotions so
that consumers can afford
to buy their products.
Teens are especially
sensitive to pricing.
Keeping
Prices Down
(4)

15. A number of laws limit face-to-face and vending
machine sales of tobacco products to young people.
But there is less oversight online. While most
websites say buyers must be at least 18 years old,
research found that 15- and 16-year olds were
able to place orders successfully.
Making Products
Accessible
– Preventing Tobacco use among youth & young
adults, a report of the surgeon general
(3)

16. While flavored cigarettes are now prohibited,
the industry still puts fruit flavoring in many of their
cigars& smokeless products such as chew and snus.
These products can cause serious health problems
& lead to nicotine addiction.
Designing Products that
Appeal to Youth
(3)

17. Young people are
a prime market for
tobacco products.
Tobacco makers need
to replace long-term
users who have quit,
or died. The tobacco
industry recruits
replacement smokers
from youth and
young adults.
Why the Industry
Targets Young
People

18. Today’s teenager is tomorrow’s
potential regular customer, and
the overwhelming majority of
smokers first begin to smoke
while still in their teens…The
smoking patters of teenagers
are particularly important to
Philip Morris.
Philip Morris, Special Report,
“Young Smokers: Prevalence,
Trends, Implications and Related
Demographic Trends.”
“
”

19. Tobacco companies use many marketing and
advertising tools at stores to sell tobacco.
Advertising is often placed in highly visible spots
like in windows or checkout counters, which trigger
impulse buying. Ads inside the stores are often
placed at eye level for preteen children.
Retail Marketing
(3)

20. Tobacco use is prominent in movies, social media,
video games and glossy magazines. Tobacco
advertising both inside and outside retail stores is
often the largest, most visible advertising of any
products. These ads suggest that using tobacco
can make you sexy, popular, thin and cool.
The Tobacco Industry
Uses Media to Promote its
Products to Young People
(3)

21. If young people
don’t start using
tobacco by
AGE 25
they almost
certainly will
never start(3)

22. Successful multi-
component programs
prevent young people
from starting to use
tobacco in the first
place and more than
pay for themselves in
lives and health care
dollars saved.
Prevention
is Critical

23. What’s
working
Well-funded tobacco
prevention programs
Laws requiring
smoke-free workplaces
& public places
Higher tobacco prices
Public education
campaigns
Regulation of the
manufacturing, marketing
& sales of tobacco products(5)

24. The evidence is clear and
convincing – and beyond any
reasonable doubt – that
Defendants have marketed to
young people twenty-one and
under while consistently,
publicly, and falsely, denying
they do so.
U.S. District Court Judge Gladys
Kessler in 2006 verdict against
cigarette companies
“
”

25. Policies are very important in preventing young people
from using tobacco because they can change the
environment so that choosing a tobacco-free life is
encouraged and supported. You can make a difference,
starting today by showing your support for policies:
What you can do
Make tobacco products less affordable by
increasing tobacco taxes.
Support existing tobacco-free and smoke-free
policies within your community and show your support
for new policies that protect kids from using tobacco,
which can include tobacco-free schools, daycares and
outdoor public places such as parks and recreation areas.
Restrict tobacco marketing.
BreatheND.com/WhatYouCanDo

26. Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids
Tobacco PreventionAwareness Cessation Coalition http://www.t-pacc.org/truth/
Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and YoungAdults: A report of the Surgeon General, 2012
Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/facts_issues/toll_us/
See TFK factsheet, Prevention and Cessation Programs,
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/state_local/prevention_cessation/; Smoke free Laws,
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/state_local/smoke_free_laws/; State Tobacco Taxes,
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/state_local/taxes/; FDAAuthority Over Tobacco,
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/federal_issues/fda/
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
References