Tobacco Marketing and Countermarketing

Tobacco marketing includes all efforts of the industry to promote tobacco products. Industry marketing has been linked to a variety of smoking behaviors among both adults and youth and has been found to encourage smoking initiation among youth. Tobacco industry documents uncovered as a result of recent litigation provide factual information on the industry's intent to target certain groups, including women, racial/ethnic minorities, and youth. Countermarketing is a strategy used by public health agencies to protect individuals who may be susceptible to the influence of tobacco industry marketing—particularly youth—by responding directly to that marketing. The best countermarketing campaigns utilize key practices of modern marketing, including branding and audience segmentation. Because most smokers have their first cigarette before age 18, and because one-third of youth who ...