Lessons Learned from the Broadcast Cigarette Advertising Ban

Antismoking forces hailed the ban on cigarette advertising in the broadcast media as a major victory in their campaign against the tobacco industry. Expectations were that this legislation would reduce the percentage of smokers in the population and the number of young adults adopting the smoking habit. But the percentage of adult smokers actually rose slightly following the ban. In light of this fact, a natural question is, “What exactly has been the effect of the ban?” This paper attempts to provide information relevant to this question by examining trends in cigarette advertising expenditures and cigarette consumption.