Tobacco Companies Target Youths With Smokeless Tobacco Products

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers have recently published two papers that analyze how tobacco companies have marketed their products to adults and youths. In addition, one of the researchers, Greg Connolly, discusses the strategic marketing of moist snuff, particularly to youth, in a new HSPH video.

The first paper, "After the Master Settlement Agreement: Targeting and Exposure of Youth to Magazine Tobacco Advertising," by Hillel Alpert, Howard Koh and Gregory Connolly, in Health Affairs, finds that although youth exposure to magazine advertising for tobacco products has declined since the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, manufacturers have concentrated their advertising in brands disproportionately purchased by young smokers.

In the second paper, "Free Nicotine Content and Strategic Marketing of Moist Snuff Tobacco Products in the United States: 2000-2006," in Tobacco Control, Alpert, Koh and Connolly look at reasons why moist snuff sales, which account for 71% of the smokeless tobacco market, increased in that time period. They conclude that an increase in the levels of addictive free nicotine in their moist snuff products, an increase in the number and variety of sub-brands, and changes in product design have contributed to the expanded consumption of moist snuff, particularly among youth.