Increasingly, tobacco companies market their products through promotional activities that reach youth. Cigarette ads visually associate smoking with independence, healthfulness, adventure-seeking, and physical attractiveness themes that appeal to young people. These attractive pictures suggest that smoking is a powerful tool for improving self-image. Young people with low self-esteem are particularly receptive to this message. The pervasiveness of cigarette advertising may suggest that smoking is more common than it really is.
Young people are far more likely than adults to greatly overestimate the prevalence of smoking.
Young People Promising results have been seen in school-based programs that teach young people how to resist social influences to smoke. Such programs are even more successful when they are supported in the adolescent's home and community. Other measures that appear to discourage youth from trying tobacco include Taxes that raise the price of cigarettes. Strongly enforced laws that prohibit the sale of tobacco to young people. Policies in the school, workplace, and community that restrict smoking.