TakeAPart: Argentina

Marketing to Kids in Argentina

Tobacco companies cannot stay in business unless kids get hooked on tobacco.

Governments must enact and enforce policies mandated by the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to protect kids from the aggressive marketing tactics of tobacco companies. Share now to stop Big Tobacco from marketing to kids in Argentina.

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in partnership with Tobacco-Free Argentina.

How tobacco companies market to kids

Referring to youth as “replacement smokers,” the world’s largest tobacco companies are targeting kids with special advertising and promotions, tobacco products designed to appeal to youth, and product placement near primary and secondary schools across the globe.

That’s because kids are more susceptible to cigarette advertising and marketing than adults. The vast majority of all smokers begin their addictive habit before they reach age 18, and almost nobody tries smoking for the first time after 18. In other words, if large numbers of kids did not try smoking and go on to become regular users, the tobacco companies eventually would not have enough adult customers to make staying in business worthwhile.

In Argentina, investigations into Big Tobacco’s efforts to market to kids have uncovered advertising and product placement immediately surrounding primary and secondary schools.