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Peer-reviewed article

Youth Targeting By Tobacco Manufacturers Since The Master Settlement Agreement

The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between tobacco manufacturers and forty-six states bans manufacturers from targeting minors through advertising. To determine how youth targeting in magazine cigarette advertisements changed after…

By John D. LantosJanuary 1, 20021 min readin Health Affairs

The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between tobacco manufacturers and forty-six states bans manufacturers from targeting minors through advertising. To determine how youth targeting in magazine cigarette advertisements changed after the MSA, we analyzed magazine readership and cigarette ads in U.S. magazines from 1997 to 2000. In 2000 all three major manufacturers (Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, and Brown and Williamson) failed to comply with the MSA's youth-targeting ban, selectively increasing their youth targeting. Banning all magazine advertising of cigarettes may be necessary to eliminate youth targeting in magazines.

Originally published at Health Affairs · January 1, 2002.

About the author

John D. Lantos is a pediatrician and bioethicist writing on AI in medicine, neonatal intensive care, and end-of-life decisions. His essays appear in JAMA, JAMA Pediatrics, the Hastings Center Report, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Aeon. Read more about John.

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