Retail Tobacco Advertising Influences Youth
The tobacco companies are driven to find new customers. Too many of their adult customers die or succeed in quitting! Most adult smokers start smoking in high school or middle school.
Researchers have studied the impact that tobacco advertising in retail stores has on youth. Some key findings from these studies:
- Youth are more strongly influenced by the tobacco advertising they see in stores than adults are.
- Youth are more influenced to smoke by tobacco advertising than by peer pressure.
- Each day in the United States 4,000 young people between 12 and 17 start smoking cigarettes.
The Four Corners Partnership is beginning a campaign to educate the public and tobacco retailers about the impact that tobacco advertising in retail stores has on the youth in our communities.
Learn more:
Tobacco Marketing That Reaches Kids - Point-of-Purchase Advertising and Promotions
Why are youth more heavily influenced by in-store advertising? This is a brief summary of the issues and research with a bibliography of sources.
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Hear a Minnesota convenience store owner explain how the tobacco companies make her “jump through the hoops”. A short You Tube clip from “Tobacco’s Hidden Influence On Our Kids”, a video produced by the Minnesota Department of Health in 2007. |
State-Specific Tobacco Company Marketing Expenditures 1998 to 2006
How much do the tobacco companies spend on advertising in Minnesota? The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has put the data from the Federal Trade Commission into an easy to read table.
The Toll of Tobacco In Minnesota - Youth Smoking
A summary of youth smoking in Minnesota.
FDA Consumer Fact Sheet - Protecting Children
Explains the link between tobacco product advertisements and promotions and adolescent tobacco use. Summarizes action the FDA is taking to protect children.




