Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education

Objectives - To determine the relationship between brand-specific advertising and promotions in convenience stores for Marlboro and Camel cigarettes and choice of usual brand among school students.

Design - Cross-sectional survey with merged records of store tobacco advertising and promotions.

Setting – United States.

Participants – 3,890 high school smokers with a usual brand, matched to 196 convenience stores.

Main outcome measures – Choice of Marlboro as a usual brand ; choice of Camel as a usual brand.

Results – Choice of Marlboro as a usual brand was associated with presence of a Marlboro gift with purchase (p.05) and negatively associated with a greater share of exterior advertising voice for Camel (p<.001).

Conclusions – The results are consistent with the notion that Marlboro-specific advertising and promotions may influence choice of Marlboro as a usual brand to smoke among teens, but results for Camel are mixed and inconclusive.

Further research is required to confirm and extend these findings.