185089 Marketing Cigarettes and Snus to Upwardly Mobile Young Adults

Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 9:05 AM

Daniel K. Cortese, PhD , Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Adrienne Mejia, MPH , Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Pamela Ling, MD, MPH , Division of General Internal Medicine, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
     
Significance: Although tobacco use is more prevalent among those with lower socioeconomic status, some cigarette marketing campaigns specifically appeal to upscale aspirations. College students with greater income potential may be particularly vulnerable. Many current campaigns are rich with upscale imagery.

Objective: Describe the tobacco industry's previous goals and marketing strategies for using upscale imagery to target upwardly mobile young adults and compare them to current cigarette and smokeless tobacco campaigns.

Methods: Analysis of previously secret tobacco industry documents, and qualitative analysis of websites and advertisements for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.

Results: Philip Morris (PM) repositioned Parliament in the 1990s to appeal to upwardly mobile young adults, who were viewed as a small but important segment of the cigarette market. While few young adults have high incomes, this is a common aspiration that coincides with the Parliament brand identity and advertising imagery. RJ Reynolds (RJR) developed a subsidiary “Moonlight” to sell specialty brands to appeal to the same “upscale” market segment. Upscale marketing campaigns may also appeal to smokers of lower socioeconomic status by integrating cultural values of wealth aspirations. We found similarities between the PM and RJR creative objectives and the advertising images utilized today for certain tobacco brands.

Conclusions: Upscale imagery is an important strategy to create aspirational campaigns that appeal to young adults. By understanding how tobacco companies target upscale users, and drawing commonalities between past and current campaigns, public health advocates can develop more effective countermarketing strategies to curb tobacco use.

Learning Objectives:
1) Describe the historical development of brands targeting upscale young adults, and how it relates to the psychographic segmentation of young adults 2) Identify similarities between past marketing of upscale brands to young adults and current controversial snus campaigns 3) Discuss strategies to counter new targeted tobacco marketing tactics

Keywords: Tobacco Industry, Marketing

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: As a postdoc at UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, I will be publishing three papers this year on tobacco marketing strategies to young adults, under the guidance of Dr. Pamela Ling.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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