In the early 1990s youth smoking rates, which had been declining for years, began to rise.
1 As a result, we launched a number of efforts to help address this issue.
In 1995, we announced the Action Against Access program, and became a founding member and major sponsor of the Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing and its
We Card® program.
The tobacco settlement agreements*, which PM USA signed in 1997 and 1998, require tobacco companies to be committed to underage smoking prevention and to:
- communicate that commitment to employees and customers;
- designate an executive to identify ways to prevent underage cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use; and
- seek ideas from employees on how to prevent underage cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco.
In 1998, PM USA created a Youth Smoking Prevention department with the objective of helping to prevent kids from smoking cigarettes. The tobacco settlement agreements did not require that the company create this department or mandate any particular allocation of funds to help prevent underage smoking. The tobacco settlement agreements also do not mandate many of the programs PM USA has undertaken, such as parent communications, support for the
We Card® program and grants to organizations with programs designed to help kids avoid risky behaviors. The aim of the agreements however, is clearly to help reduce underage tobacco use in the U.S.
Through 2009 PM USA has made payments of over $42 billion to the states as part of these agreements, and continues to advocate that a large portion of these funds should be used to support effective programs to prevent underage tobacco use.
Learn more about the tobacco settlement agreements In addition, we supported legislation, enacted in June 2009, to give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco products, including new authority to prevent underage tobacco use.
Over the years, our efforts have included:
From 1999 – 2006, PM USA developed and aired advertising for parents with the message “Talk to your kids about not smoking. They’ll Listen.” We believe this campaign made a meaningful difference in helping parents understand their influence and encouraging them to talk to their kids about not smoking.
- Up to 61 percent of parent respondents who were aware of a television ad reported having talked to their children about not smoking as a result.
- Based on population estimates, the June 2006 flight of our television campaign reached approximately 24.4 million parents of kids 10-17 and inspired approximately 14.8 million parents to talk to their kids about not smoking.
The online Parent Resource Centers (PRC) provided information and activities to help parents raise kids who don't smoke. The PRC included advice from parenting and child development experts on talking to kids about not smoking or using any tobacco products. The PRC received more than 3.8 million visits between 2005 and March 2010. Because PM USA has provided a grant to the Search Institute to help develop ParentFurther, an independent resource for parents, the PRC is no longer online. PM USA and other Altria Group companies provide a link to ParentFurther on their corporate websites.
The “Raising Kids Who Don’t Smoke” parent resource series was designed to provide parents with advice on talking to their kids about not smoking or using other tobacco products. This series addressed many factors that might influence kids to smoke or use other tobacco products, like peer pressure and parental smoking. PM USA distributed more than 100 million free resources nationally to retail stores, through magazine inserts, by direct mail, and also via orders placed through our database.
&fn=Gotham-Medium&tr=True&w=470&ht=0&s=10&bg=%23FFFFFF&fg=%23336699&v=CENTER&h=LEFT&q=90&ls=0)
The TABS was conducted from February 1999 through the end of 2007 and has been an important component of PM USA’s efforts to prevent underage tobacco use. During that time, the survey measured the prevalence of youth tobacco use in the continental United States and complemented existing national studies. This information aided us in understanding the difference between kids who use tobacco and those who don’t, and helped guide our overall underage tobacco prevention strategy, communications and grant program priorities.
View a PDF of the final 2007 TABS report.
