Vol. 19 (2) Fall 2000, 189–200 Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 189 The Use of Human Models and Cartoon Characters in Magazine Advertisements for Cigarettes, Beer, and Nonalcoholic Beverages Kathleen J. Kelly, Michael D. Slater, David Karan, and Liza Hunn The authors examine the content of magazine advertising for cigarettes, beer, and nonalco- holic beverages from July 1996 to July 1997. A total of 476 advertisements (239 unique advertisements) from 12 different magazines were content-analyzed. In light of the ongoing debate and recent proposals over the regulation of tobacco and alcohol advertising aimed at young people, the purpose was to answer two principal questions: (1) whether the adver- tisements for cigarettes and beer contain more cartoons and animated characters than do advertisements for nonalcoholic beverages and (2) whether the presence of human models in an advertisement’s visuals is an adequate way to operationalize a lifestyle advertisement. The authors also replicate and extend previous research regarding the amount and type of extrinsic appeal or lifestyle advertising found in these product categories. Significantly more lifestyle content appeared in cigarette advertisements than in nonalcoholic beverage advertisements. Furthermore, a disproportionate number of cartoon characters in cigarette advertisements appeared in magazines with a higher share of younger readers, consistent with policy concerns regarding the use of such cartoon characters to appeal to youth mar- kets. Also, 8.8% of advertisements that were classified as lifestyle advertisements did not contain recognizable human models. An implication of this finding is that the original tobacco settlement proposal to eliminate lifestyle content of cigarette and beer advertise- ments simply by eliminating models was inadequate to achieve its intended purpose. KATHLEEN J. KELLY is an associate professor, and LIZA HUNN is a research associate, Department of Marketing, Colorado State University. MICHAEL D. SLATER is a professor, and DAVID KARAN is a research associate, Department of Journalism and Technical Communication, Colorado State University. The content analysis reported in this article was conducted as part of a larger research study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (#031600). F ood and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations have been proposed to limit cigarette magazine advertising to “tombstone advertisements”: advertisements that contain only black text on a white background with no graphics or imagery. The restrictions would be limited to magazines whose under-18 readership numbers at least two million or constitutes at least 15% of total readership (FDA 1996). In part, the goal of this legislation was to eliminate advertising linking cigarette smoking to attractive lifestyles and models, as well as ending the use of characters such as Joe Camel that might be especially appealing to children. The massive $368 billion settlement reached in June 1997 between 41 states and the tobacco industry collapsed in Congress because of disagreements surrounding price increases, curbing advertising, and giving the FDA the power to regulate nicotine as a drug. However, in 1998, 48 states settled with the tobacco industry for $206 billion. Although the recent settlement between the states and the tobacco industry resolved some of the issues related to crit- icisms about the marketing and advertising of tobacco prod- ucts, such as the agreement of R.J. Reynolds to abandon the use of Joe Camel in its advertising, the severity of market- ing and advertising restrictions advocated by the FDA and by high-profile advocacy groups was not imposed. For example, although the tobacco industry’s settlement with the states eliminated the use of billboard advertising, smok- ing critics believe that billboards are far less important than magazine advertisements for reaching youth (Torry 1999), and no restrictions on magazine advertising were imposed. Although the FDA’s authority to control tobacco was recently denied by the Supreme Court (FDA vs. Brown & Williamson et al. 2000), the debate and legislation aimed at restricting the advertising of tobacco and other unhealthy products will continue. Beer advertising has also been heavily criticized, among other reasons, for the use of animated characters and other content that might be particularly appealing to younger readers (Fischer et al. 1991; Madden and Grube 1994; Unger, Johnson, and Rohrbach 1995). In 1996, Senator Kennedy introduced the Children’s Protection from Alcohol Advertising Act (Pub. L. HR 3473), which proposed adver- tising restrictions on alcohol similar to those proposed in 1995 for tobacco by President Clinton. In particular, this act proposed restricting alcohol print advertising to text only, with no imagery or graphics—in other words, tombstone advertising. Underlying such criticisms and the recently proposed advertising restrictions is the belief that appealing lifestyle advertising—that is, advertising that associates a product