The tobacco industry needs to recruit new smokers every year to replace those who die from tobacco-related diseases. The industry's very survival depends on new teenage customers.
Few people start smoking as adults.
Thus, children are the industry's most significant target. It is therefore little wonder that tobacco companies spend billions of dollars in their efforts to entice children into smoking. No more than 5 percent of smokers start after age 24. Children around the world are surrounded by advertisements portraying tobacco use as fun, sophisticated, modern and Western. In many countries, cigarette advertisements dominate the radio stations most popular with teenagers.