RESEARCH REPORT © 2005 Society for the Study of Addiction doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.01298.x Addiction, 100, 1875–1883 Blackwell Science, LtdOxford, UKADDAddiction0965-2140© 2005 Society for the Study of Addiction 100•••• Original Article Mixed messages on tobacco Melanie Wakefield et al. Correspondence to: Melanie A. Wakefield Director Centre for Behavioral Research in Cancer The Cancer Council Victoria 1 Rathdowne Street Carlton Victoria 3053 Australia E-mail: melanie.wakefield@cancervic.org.au Submitted 26 January 2005; initial review completed 11 March 2005; final version accepted 22 July 2005 RESEARCH REPORT Mixed messages on tobacco: comparative exposure to public health, tobacco company- and pharmaceutical company-sponsored tobacco-related television campaigns in the United States, 1999–2003 Melanie Wakefield 1 , Glen Szczypka 2 , Yvonne Terry-McElrath 3 , Sherry Emery 2 , Brian Flay 2 , Frank Chaloupka 2,4 & Henry Saffer 4,5 The Cancer Council Victoria, Australia, 1 University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, 2 University of Michigan, USA, 3 National Bureau of Economic Research, USA, 4 Kean University, Union, NJ, USA 5 ABSTRACT Aims To describe and compare the extent of exposure among youth and adults to antitobacco advertising funded by tobacco control agencies, and to smoking-related advertising from tobacco and pharmaceutical companies. Design Archival records of television advertising exposures from Nielsen Media Research for the largest 75 media markets in the United States from 1999 to 2003. Measurements Mean monthly advertising exposures for households with televisions and adolescents aged 12–17 years for: state tobacco control pro- grams; the national American Legacy Foundation (Legacy) program; tobacco company advertising for youth smoking prevention, parent advertising and cor- porate image; pharmaceutical company advertising for nicotine replacement therapy and Zyban ® ; and other miscellaneous tobacco-related advertising. Findings Combined tobacco company youth/parent advertising exposures matched those for combined State/Legacy campaigns (4.56 advertisements/ month versus 4.97 advertisements/month among households; 3.05 adver- tisements/month versus 3.38 advertisements/month among adolescents). Tobacco company corporate image advertising averaged 3.25 advertisements/ month among households and 0.73 advertisements/month among adoles- cents. Tobacco company advertising exceeded public health-sponsored adver- tising by a factor of 1.57–1, and among youth by 1.11–1. Pharmaceutical companies were the largest sponsor of tobacco-related advertising for house- holds (10.37 advertisements/month) and provided significant exposure among adolescents (2.61 advertisements/month). Conclusions This is the first study to demonstrate systematically that public health-sponsored antitobacco campaigns in the United States are matched or exceeded by tobacco company advertising, as well as pharmaceutical cessation product advertising. Research is needed to determine whether such advertising may dilute or undermine the established benefits of tobacco control-sponsored campaigns. KEYWORDS Adolescents, advertising, mass media, smoking, television.