The Master Settlement Agreement and Visual Imagery of Cigarette Advertising in Two Popular Youth Magazines

While the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between tobacco companies and forty-six states banned targeting youth through advertising and promotions, it did not designate specific visual imagery restrictions for magazine advertisements. While several studies have examined the MSA's effect on cigarette advertising expenditures in magazines and exposure of youth to such advertisements, this study provides a descriptive account of changes in the visually oriented content of cigarette advertisements in two popular youth magazines before and after the MSA. In 1998 the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) was established between tobacco companies and attorneys general to restrict the marketing of tobacco products. Although the MSA addressed some aspects of cigarette marketing toward youth, it did not provide specific guidelines for magazine advertising, relying instead on a general prohibition on targeting youth. Previous studies have examined the effect of the MSA on cigarette advertising expenditures in magazines and exposure of youth to such advertisements.1 However, no study has examined whether tobacco companies have altered the visual imagery of advertisements placed in youth-oriented magazines post-MSA. Visual imagery plays a key role in the cigarette advertising debate, and social learning theory provides one explanation for how it might impact youth smoking. Prior literature suggests that cigarette advertising is a meaningful factor that influences the perceptions, attitudes, and smoking behavior of youth. Studies have shown that youth are more easily persuaded by advertising and promotion efforts, and the tobacco industry has been extremely successful in creating images for cigarette brands over a long period of time, specifically targeting advertising to youth.2 Cigarette advertising is rich in imagery and symbolic associations, such as exciting lifestyles, masculinity, femininity, success, and sophistication.3 Because youth are more likely to be influenced by such images at a time when they are struggling to define their own self-concepts and identities, and magazines are a powerful medium for disseminating such messages and images, cigarette advertising in magazines can captivate youth.4 This study examines changes in the visual imagery of cigarette magazine ads in the wake of the MSA's prohibition on targeting youth. The study provides a descriptive account of the visual imagery in cigarette ads placed within two magazines with high youth readership, Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated, over two eras-the five years prior to the MSA (1994 to 1998) and in the eight years immediately following implementation of the MSA (1999 to 2006). The results may have public policy implications, particularly in the absence of specific guidelines as to what constitutes "targeting youth" in magazine advertisements. The MSA and Magazine Advertising In November 1998, the attorneys general for forty-six states reached an agreement with the four tobacco companies: Philip Morris (now Altria), RJ. Reynolds, Lorillard, and Brown and Williamson.5 The MSA established restrictions on the marketing of tobacco products, including the prohibition of sponsorship of events with a significant youth audience, transit advertising, product placement, tobacco merchandising, outdoor advertising that was not at a retail establishment, and the use of cartoon characters (e.g., Joe Camel).6 However, the MSA did not specifically address other forms of advertising, including magazines. Instead, the MSA included a general prohibition on "targeting youth," stipulating that "no participating manufacturer may take any action, directly or indirectly, to target youth within any settling state in the advertising, promotion or marketing of tobacco products, or take any action the primary purpose of which is to initiate, maintain or increase the incidence of youth smoking within any settling state."7 The decision not to address magazine advertising more specifically was a contentious one. …