While it may sound like a no-brainer, the truth of the matter is that the surge in smoking cessation product advertising might be doing more harm than good.
A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research has shown that the heavy advertising is inadvertently convincing people that quitting smoking is easy now that smoking cessation products are readily available which drives people to smoke more.
As the NBER says:
“[A] moral hazard is created because NRT advertising increases the expectation that cessation is relatively easy. NRT advertising could thus induce youth to smoke, to smoke more and/or to delay quit attempts.”
Furthermore, advertising is expensive and the government is helping to foot the bill. Once again, according to the NBER:
“It is also estimated that a ban on NRT advertising would be equivalent to a 10 percent increase in cigarette prices.”
So, in other words, the cost is high and the benefits are dubious at best.
But the money involved here is massive and the smoking cessation industry is heavily involved in smoking bans and government intervention – which means that the government wouldn’t dare to touch the advertising and tread on the industry’s toes. They’d rather raise the cigarette taxes 10%.
Filed under: Big Pharma | Tagged: advertising, smoking bans, smoking cessation
