Smoking and Health (B): Gains Made and Miles to Travel

Abstract

This note explores the impact of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) on the tobacco industry's advertising and promotion and its effect on curtailing smoking, particularly among teens. The agreement effectively shifted the bulk of the industry's spending to discounting (e.g., coupons) as well as events and outdoor and point-of-sale advertising. That shift may have undermined the purpose of the MSA, which was to promote health by decreasing the number of smokers. To what extent do antismoking campaigns work? How can we create a generation of "never-smokers"? See also "Smoking and Health" (UVA-M-0459).

Keywords: marketing, positioning, communications