Understanding the role of cigarette promotion and youth smoking in a changing marketing environment.

In 2001, $11.21 billion was spent on domestic cigarette advertising and promotion, an increase of 16.9% over 2000. This article explains how cigarette industry efforts stimulate demand and encourage smoking within the context of recent changes, including the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) and resulting litigation, and variations in tobacco marketing policies. Communication concepts are combined with adolescent development concepts to explain how youth are impacted. Industry documents and current syndicated research data are used to reveal and explain key concepts.