Children and advertising: does the Voluntary Agreement work?

Abstract

A PILOT study of the home reading habits of 2,433 children from three secondary schools was under taken to determine whether they saw and remem bered cigarette advertisements in national newspapers and magazines. The results indicate that a very high percentage of children read, or look at, most newspapers and magazines belonging to their parents or other adult members of the family. The majority of these children were aware of the cigarette advertisements contained in them and could correctly recall the brands most frequently ad vertised. Awareness was highest among children who smoked, but 60 per cent of all children who had never smoked had also seen and remembered ciga rette advertisements. A link was found between the recall ability of children from each school and their exposure to specific publications which were most popular in their region. The four brand names most frequently identified by all children, whatever their smoking habits, were those most frequently adver tised in colour. The children were less likely to remember advertisements printed in black and white and those with a 'tombstone' format. The need for a total ban on cigarette advertisements in the national press, or legislation to limit their content and format, is indicated.