College student's exposure to tobacco marketing in nightclubs and bars

Smoking is the leading cause of death in the United States. Tobacco companies marketing activities are likely to move smokers along the smoking continuum and facilitate smoking. Young adults are more likely to be current smokers and frequent nightclubs and bars. These venues are ideal for tobacco companies to promote their products because of the “adult only” environment.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a college student's exposure to tobacco marketing in nightclubs and bars was affected by the presence of a smoke-free law.

A non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive, two-group design was used. A random sample of college from two regional universities located in communities with different smoke-free laws within the same state participated in the study. One community had no smoke-free law. The other was 100% smoke-free.

The analysis was limited to students who reported being in nightclubs and bars (N=171). Students in the smoke-free law city were more likely to be exposed to direct marketing strategies (1.83 vs. 1.12, p=0.023). They were more likely to be approached by tobacco marketers (34.7% vs. 20.2%, p=0.02), offered free gifts (41.7% vs. 24.2%, p=0.02), and take free gifts for themselves (34.7% vs. 19.2%, p=0.02). There was no difference on indirect marketing (advertising on walls, napkins, bar, etc.) by site.

Tobacco marketing is pervasive in nightclubs and bars. Smoke-free laws may protect against exposure to secondhand smoke but not the “pro” smoking messages encounter. College health providers should consider ways to offset the the "pro" smoking messages students encounter.