Children, smoking and advertising: what does the research really tell us?
Colin McDonald
Calls for the banning of tobacco advertising rely heavily on the belief that advertising contributes towards children starting or continuing the habit. A number of research studies which claim to demonstrate this connection have been reviewed. Some of these studies have been extensively quoted in anti-smoking literature. This paper is based on a detailed review.
The review found that the studies tended to show a degree of correlation between awareness/approval of advertising and propensity to smoke, but failed to establish a causal link, relying instead on emotive...