The 1994 Surgeon General's Report found that young people were able to buy cigarettes in vending machines an average of 88 percent of the time. Mail-order sales provide no sure way of verifying age. Current industry practice only asks the consumer to provide a birth date or check box to verify age. Self-service displays allow children to easily obtain tobacco products. Free samples are obtained by children, including those in elementary school, despite industry code prohibiting distribution to anyone under 21.
Free samples occur on street corners, at shopping malls and sporting events.
Appealing to Children Advertising and promotional activities can greatly influence a young person's decision to smoke or use smokeless tobacco products. Awareness of tobacco products and messages is very high among even the youngest children. Tobacco products are among the most heavily advertised products in the United States. A 1992 Gallup Survey found that half of adolescent smokers and one quarter of adolescents who do not smoke owned at least one tobacco promotional item such as a tee-shirt, cap, sporting good, or lighter. Sponsorship of events such as tennis tournaments, car races, and rodeos associate tobacco products with excitement and glamour, and provide a way for tobacco brands to be advertised on television despite the broadcast advertising ban.