Tobacco's Stealth Marketing

 

 

 

Tobacco Stealth Marketing 

Video 

 

In the United States, cigarette sales have hit a 55-year low and there has been a significant 

decline in youth smoking since 1997. On the surface, that’s great news. But before we start to pat 

ourselves on the back for the progress we’ve made, let’s take a look at the real story: As usual, Big 

Tobacco has worked out a plan that will likely threaten all of these great gains. 

 

This time, it’s a stealth marketing campaign that the Harvard School of Public Health says is 

aimed at getting young smokers and women to buy cigarettes with liqueur and candy flavoring.1  

 

But before we take a closer look at Big Tobacco’s latest wily moves, let’s review our progress 

against tobacco to date.  Since the 1998 landmark multi-state tobacco settlement in which billions of 

dollars theoretically changed hands, much of the conventional tobacco marketing aimed at kids, 

including Joe Camel, outdoor ads, and advertising in newspapers and magazines, has disappeared. 

Many states and cities have banned smoking in the workplace, restaurants and bars.2 And the David 

versus Goliath “Truth Ads” produced by the American Legacy Foundation, the non-profit consumer 

group created with the tobacco settlement money, have been seen by millions and are believed to be 

significantly responsible for the decline in youth smoking.3,4 

 

Sounds great. But guess what? The Federal Trade Commission’s most recent statistics indicate 

that tobacco marketing expenditures actually increased by 22 percent -- from roughly $12 billion to 

$15 billion -- between 2002 and 2003.5 How can that be? Well, while Joe Camel-type ads may be 

gone, direct mail, coupon discounts and event promotions have filled in the gaps.  Cigarette 

marketing is still very much “in your face” considering that discounted smokes are now on the market, 

three of the five films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards all included smoking 

scenes, and you can now even redeem bar codes from cigarette packages to fund shopping sprees.6   

 

To understand why tobacco companies have adjusted their marketing strategies, let’s take a 

look at some figures. Twenty percent of women in both the developed and developing world are 

expected to be smokers by 2025.7 And despite overall decreases in youth smoking, nearly 6,000 

children under age 18 start smoking every day.8 As these two markets meet, considering the average 

age for girls to start smoking is 14, it reinforces demand, and new, more targeted marketing strategies 

are developed.9  

 

The tobacco companies know just what they are doing as they reach out to this market. The 

latest flavored tobacco products have alluring names like Dark Mint, Cool Myst, Midnight Berry and 

Mocha Taboo. Their flavor masks the taste and toxicity of tobacco. Complete with stylish and colorful 

packaging, flavored cigarettes contain invisible flavor delivery pellets inside their filters.10  

 

 

And  the plan seems to be working. While cigarette sales are down overall, RJ Reynolds’ Camel 

brand family experienced a 9.8 percent sales volume increase during the past year, coinciding with 

the introduction of a new flavored product.10 

 

The act of getting flavored cigarettes on the market is a relatively new step for tobacco 

companies, but the concept of flavored cigarettes as a strategy for expanding the cigarette market 

has been around for decades. According to the Harvard study, which involved reviewing internal 

tobacco industry documents and patents, cigarette maker Brown and Williamson determined from 

consumer research in 1984 that flavored cigarettes would be much more popular with the young and 

inexperienced.11  And according to Lorillard documents from 1991:  “Given young people’s proclivity 

towards flavors in other categories (i.e. soft drinks and wine coolers) a flavor-enhanced menthol 

product may appeal to these smokers.”12  Philip Morris even tested several flavors among young 

adult smokers in 1992 and noted that flavored cigarettes offered better aroma and aftertaste, 

increased excitement, and had a “high curiosity-to-try factor.”13  And in 1993, RJR identified that 

“Flavored cigarettes appeal to women...”14 

 

By the end of the decade, polymer pellet technology, or PPT, had been perfected and patents 

filed. The technology took flavor enhancement to a new level. In 2000, the Camel brand went “exotic” 

with blue flavor-delivering pellets embedded in fruity cigarettes called Twist, Mandarin Mint and 

Aegean Spice.10  This pellet technology was further reinforced by new media public relations tactics. 

As noted by Harvard public health expert Greg Connolly, “....the packaging and imagery of flavored 

products serve as a powerful new source of promotion and advertising, particularly when coupled with 

tailored advertising and marketing found on interactive web sites (such as Camel Smokes and Salem 

Access) that further capitalize on product novelty.”10 

 

Here’s the bottom line. Very little is known about the possible health risks associated with 

flavored cigarettes and their new pellet technology. But we do know they mask the natural harshness 

and taste of tobacco smoke, therefore new smokers are likely to get hooked. That’s clearly not a good 

thing. And it’s even worse that the tobacco companies are pushing this new approach with women 

and young people in mind. 

 

Federal regulation is pending that would require disclosure of PPT to the FDA and prohibit 

candy-like flavoring of tobacco.10 And this regulation can’t come soon enough.  

 

 As Harvard’s Connolly put it: “Tobacco companies are using candy-like flavors and high tech 

delivery devices to turn a blow torch into a flavored popsicle....this isn’t any different than adding 

sugar to contaminated meat a century ago.  The only difference is that today one is regulated by the 

FDA and the other is not.”1 

 

For Health Politics, I’m Mike Magee. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References 

 

1. Harvard School of Public Health Press Release. “Internal Documents Show Cigarette 

Manufacturers Developed Candy-flavored Brands Specifically to Target Youth market Despite 

Promises.” November 10, 2005. 

2. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids News Release. “Report on Fifth Anniversary of 1998 

Tobacco Settlement Finds Most States Fail to Adequately Fund Tobacco Prevention 

Programs.” November 12, 2003. Available at: 

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/Script/DisplayPressRelease.php3?Display=708. 

3. The American Legacy Foundation. Programs: truth. Available at: 

http://www.americanlegacy.org/americanlegacy/skins/alf/display.aspx?Action=display_page&m 

ode=User&ModuleID=8cde2e88-3052-448c-893d-d0b4b14b31c4&ObjectID=5441ae49-f8bb- 

4a52-9c7c-fed6a573fe48. 

4. Farrelly et al. Evidence of a dose-response relationship between “truth” antismoking ads and 

youth smoking prevalence. Am J Public Health. 2005;95 425-431. 

5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site. “Tobacco Industry Marketing.” 

December 2005. Available at: 

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/factsheets/Tobacco_Industry_Marketing_Factsheet.htm. 

6. Bosman J. For Tobacco, Stealth Marketing is the Norm. New York Times. March 10, 2006. 

7. Harvard School of Public Health Press Release. “Tobacco Companies Designed Cigarettes 

‘To Addict Women’ According to New Study.” May 29, 2005.  

8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Fast Facts.” Available at: 

http://www.4woman.gov/quitsmoking/fastfacts.cfm. 

9. American Cancer Society Web site. “Child and Teen Tobacco Use.” Available at: 

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Child_and_Teen_Tobacco_Use.asp 

?sitearea=PED. 

10. Carpenter CM, Wayne GF, Pauly JL, Howard KK, Connolly GN. New cigarette brands with 

flavors that appeal to youth: tobacco marketing strategies. Health Affairs. 2005;24:1601-1610. 

11. Sommers TG. “Topline: Alternate Cigarette Flavors.” January 18, 1984. Bates no. 537004281- 

5370042. Cited in Carpenter CM, Wayne GF, Pauly JL, Howard KK, Connolly GN. 

12. Lorillard. “Newport ‘NFL’ Basis of Interest,” December 10, 1991. Bates no. 82794230- 

82794232. Cited in Carpenter CM, Wayne GF, Pauly JL, Howard KK, Connolly GN. 

13. Philip Morris. “New Flavors Qualitative Research Insights.” October 1992. Bates no. 

2023163698-2023163710. Cited in Carpenter CM, Wayne GF, Pauly JL, Howard KK, Connolly 

GN. 

14. RJ Reynolds. “Flavored Cigarettes: A Review.” Bates no. 501891528-501891544.