Advertising Fails to Inform Smokers of Official Tar Yields of Cigarettes1

If the FTC testing system is revised and improved, smokers may well not learn about the changes, given that (a) the advertising-based system fails to inform them and (b) smokers' awareness of tar yields seems to be based on unregulated and misleading terms such as “ultra-light,” and “light.”

Abstract

In the United States, cigarette advertising reports standard tar and nicotine yields, following a voluntary agreement between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and cigarette manufacturers. National probability samples of smokers of ultra‐light ( N = 218), light ( N = 360), and regular ( N = 210) cigarettes were asked in telephone interviews to indicate the tar yield of their cigarettes, as well as where to find information on tar yield. Only 13% of ultra‐light smokers, 2% of light smokers, and 1% of regular smokers knew the correct tar yield of their brand, and few in each brand category reported that they would look for tar yields in advertisements. If the FTC testing system is revised and improved, smokers may well not learn about the changes, given that (a) the advertising‐based system fails to inform them and (b) smokers' awareness of tar yields seems to be based on unregulated and misleading terms such as “ultra‐light,” and “light.”