Now, with the tobacco settlement, we really have the companies on the run. In return, the industry gets limits on health-related civil suits. Payments to the states will be reduced if the rate of smoking drops, making it in the interest of the states to keep rates high and maintain the payment level. Interestingly enough, concerning Joe Camel's impact in particular, the character was introduced in advertisements starting in 1988. Again, the evidence doesn't support such a move.
Some states expel teens from school, deny drivers' licenses, impose fines and even jail youths.
North Carolina imposes some of the most severe penalties. However, in three cities, Billings, Livingston, and Missoula, where city councils had implemented local ordinances to criminalize teen smoking, students were significantly less likely to vote for the referendum than would have been predicted by the smoking rates. Just because targeting teens doesn't work doesn't mean we can't have a smoke-free society. This was the explicit goal of Reagan's surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, who targeted smoking in public places and relentlessly used his position as a pulpit from which to warn people of diseases associated with smoking. Higher costs means lower smoking.