Health Journal Tracks Alt-Weekly Tobacco Ads

january 9, 2002  03:48 pm
The American Journal of Public Health has released results of a five-year study of tobacco advertising and promotions in alternative newsweeklies. It concludes that tobacco companies are using the entertainment sections of the alternative newsweekly industry to target young adults. The study tracked tobacco ads and promotions over five years in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Philadelphia City Paper. From 1994 to 1999, tobacco-related advertising jumped from single digits to more than 300 a year in each paper. "These efforts appear to be bearing fruit; smoking rates are increasing in this age group," the authors write.