As a service member, your strength, focus and readiness are essential, but the tobacco industry is working hard to undermine all three with advertising that’s designed to slip under the radar.

Because cigarette companies haven’t been allowed to advertise on television since the 1970s, the tobacco industry has developed subtler approaches to promote their products. This includes advertising on billboards and in magazines, sponsoring events and using social media. Some of these ads are so sneaky people don’t even realize they are ads. Read on to learn how to keep tobacco advertising from tricking you into decisions that could harm your mission readiness.

Store Advertising

When you walk into a convenience store, you probably know the signs showing different tobacco products are advertisements. But did you know the colorful wall of tobacco products behind the cash register is also advertising? In 2019, tobacco companies paid retailers $174.9 million dollars to stock, shelve and display their products. These ads make tobacco use seem more socially acceptable, make tobacco products more appealing to kids and make it harder for people trying to quit to remain tobacco free.

Event Sponsorship

The tobacco industry uses a technique called “experiential marketing” to promote its products. This means they sponsor events because they want you to think of tobacco when you think about fun things. Tobacco companies host events in adults-only venues like bars and night clubs. One vape company promotes their products at electronic dance music festivals. These events make tobacco products more appealing to young people and may push people who consider themselves “social” users of tobacco toward nicotine addiction.

Product Placement

Product placement is one way brands and businesses can promote their products. Product placement involves having a product featured in various media such as a movie or television show. This type of advertising can raise awareness of, and positive attitudes toward, a product. A study published in 2020 found that electronic cigarettes received billions of impressions in music videos from the Billboard Hot 100 List, most often being shown in instances of partying. This can make vaping seem more socially acceptable and fun.

Social Media and Influencer Marketing

While most social media companies don’t allow paid advertising for tobacco products, they allow other forms of advertising. Social media sites allow sponsored content in which influencers are paid to promote tobacco products. Influencers may not always disclose sponsored content, so when these posts appear in users’ feeds, they may not realize they are seeing an ad. Tobacco companies also have their own social media pages where they share marketing content.

How Can I Recognize Tobacco Advertising?

To keep the facts about tobacco straight, be a critical consumer of information about tobacco products. Remember that colorful signs in stores are a form of tobacco advertising. Look for sponsorship disclosures on social media posts featuring tobacco products. Get your facts about the health risks of tobacco products from legitimate sources of information, like the one you’re reading now! Fight back against tobacco advertising trying to push you into decisions that will reduce your readiness.