Private Profits and Public Health: Does Advertising of Smoking Cessation Products Encourage Smokers to Quit?

We study the impact of smoking cessation product advertising. To measure potential exposure, we link survey data on magazine‐reading habits and smoking behavior with an archive of print advertisements. We find that smokers who are exposed to more advertising are more likely to attempt to quit and to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of political economy 2007-06, Vol.115 (3), p.447-481
Main Authors: Avery, Rosemary, Kenkel, Donald, Lillard, Dean R., Mathios, Alan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising
Advertising campaigns
Advertising expenditures
Advertising rates
Anti smoking movements
Behaviourism
Cigarette smoking
Consumer advertising
Consumers
Consumption
Economic models
Economic statistics
Economic theory
Political economy
Print advertising
Public health
Public service advertising
Smoking
Smoking cessation
Statistical significance
Studies
Tobacco
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Summary:We study the impact of smoking cessation product advertising. To measure potential exposure, we link survey data on magazine‐reading habits and smoking behavior with an archive of print advertisements. We find that smokers who are exposed to more advertising are more likely to attempt to quit and to successfully quit. While some increased quitting involves product purchases, we find that product advertisements also prompt cold turkey quitting. Identifying the causal impact of advertising is difficult because advertisers target consumers. Although reverse causality could bias our estimates upward, our baseline results are not sensitive to a series of checks.
ISSN:0022-3808
1537-534X
DOI:10.1086/520065