Does Advertising Increase Smoking?
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A major study of the economic impact of the growth in UK government expenditure.
Prosperity should be companies' main objective
Professor Hugh High examines the evidence for the effectiveness of advertising bans in reducing consumption.
After examining in some detail numerous models from both developed and less developed countries, he concludes that ‘…there is no evidence that advertising of tobacco products leads to an increase in the total consumption of tobacco,’ though it affects the market shares of individual brands.
Professor High also investigates the claim that tobacco advertising is particularly influential in inducing the young to begin smoking, finding there is no evidence to support the drastic policies measures designed to counter this.
High sees restrictions on tobacco advertising from a liberal viewpoint as constraints on individual freedom to choose and freedom of information. Although written almost ten years ago, the issues raised still have relevance today, particularly in the so-called ‘obesity debate’.
1999, Occasional Papers 107, ISBN 0 255 36423 7, 118pp, PB
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Prohibitions edited by John Meadowcroft