Cigarette brand preferences of teenagers and adults

Individual interviews were conducted with 726 Glasgow childrenaged 6–17 years. The majority of the secondary schoolchildren made good judgements of the cigarette brands preferredby teenage and adult smokers. The young smokers were particularlygood at this. These findings add to the growing body of evidenceindicating that young people are much more aware of mattersrelating to cigarettes (such as brand names and imagery) thanadults realize, and that underage smokers are more aware ofthese matters than nonsmokers of the same age. Primary school children with parents who smoked tended to bemore aware of brand preferences than primary school childrenwhose parents did not smoke.This indicates that the childrenof smokers tend to be more attuned to brand preferences, andthat much of this early learning occurs in the home. The young smokers showed an enhanced preference for the brandmost preferred by adults. This replicates a phenomenon reportedin Australia. The preferred brand in Glasgow, Kensitas Club,is heavily advertised in the Glasgow press. The findings suggest that children are highly sensitive to theadvertising of cigarette brands, and provide further supportfor recent research indicating that cigarette advertising promotesand reinforces smoking among the young.