Tobacco Advertising and Promotional Expenditures in Sports and Sporting Events — United States, 1992–2013

Israel T. Agaku, DMD; Satomi Odani, MPH; Stephanie Sturgis, MPH; Charles Harless, MPH; Rebecca Glover-Kudon, PhD

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2016;65(32):821-825.

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Summary

What is known about this topic?

Smokeless tobacco has been actively promoted in sports by tobacco companies using endorsements by major sport figures. In March 2010, the Food and Drug Administration, under authority of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, prohibited tobacco brand sponsorship of regulated tobacco products in sports and entertainment events or other social or cultural events.

What is added by this report?

During 1992–2013, sports-related marketing expenditures decreased significantly for both cigarettes (from $136 million in 1992 to $0 in 2013) and smokeless tobacco (from $34.8 million in 1992 to $2.1 million in 2013). After prohibition of tobacco brand sponsorship in sports in March 2010, cigarette manufacturers reported $0 on sports-related advertising and promotion during 2010–2013. In contrast, during 2010–2013, smokeless tobacco manufacturers reported a total of $16.3 million advertising and promoting smokeless tobacco in sports.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Restricting tobacco advertising and promotion in sports, coupled with other proven population-based measures (e.g., tobacco price increases, anti-tobacco mass media campaigns, tobacco-free policies inclusive of smokeless tobacco, and barrier-free cessation services), can help reduce tobacco use in the United States.

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Table 1. Total and sports-related smokeless tobacco* advertising and promotional expenditures, by year — United States, 1992–2013
Year	Total expenditure on smokeless tobacco advertising/promotion, all categories^† (million $)		Total expenditure on smokeless tobacco advertising/promotion, sports and sporting events^§ (million $)		Proportion of total advertising/promotion expenditures spent on sports and sporting events(%)
Year	Unadjusted	Adjusted^¶	Unadjusted	Adjusted^¶
1992	115.3	191.5	21.0	34.8	18.2
1993	119.2	192.2	22.7	36.7	19.1
1994	126.0	198.0	24.5	38.5	19.5
1995	127.3	194.6	25.9	39.5	20.3
1996	123.9	183.9	19.8	29.4	16.0
1997	150.4	218.3	25.8	37.4	17.1
1998	145.5	207.9	26.6	38.0	18.3
1999	170.2	238.0	23.4	32.7	13.8
2000	224.6	303.8	11.0	14.9	4.9
2001	236.7	311.3	17.9	23.5	7.6
2002	234.6	303.8	21.1	27.3	9.0
2003	242.5	307.0	16.9	21.4	7.0
2004	231.1	285.0	20.6	25.5	8.9
2005	250.8	299.1	15.7	18.8	6.3
2006	354.1	409.2	16.9	19.5	4.8
2007	411.2	462.0	17.9	20.1	4.4
2008	547.9	592.8	14.6	15.8	2.7
2009	492.1	534.4	15.2	16.5	3.1
2010	444.2	474.6	9.0	9.6	2.0
2011	451.7	467.8	3.4	3.6	0.8
2012	435.7	442.1	1.8	1.9	0.4
2013	503.2	503.2	2.1	2.1	0.4

*Data collected from manufacturers of the following smokeless tobacco types on the U.S. market: chewing tobacco, plug tobacco, scotch tobacco, moist snuff, snus, and dissolvable tobacco products.
^†Includes aggregate expenditures across the different cigarette advertising and promotional categories: newspapers; magazines; outdoor; transit; point-of-sale; price discounts; promotional allowances (retailers, wholesalers, and other); sampling distribution; specialty item distribution (branded and nonbranded); public entertainment (adult-only and general-audience); sponsorships; endorsements and testimonials; direct mail; coupons; retail-value-added–nontobacco bonus; company website; internet-other; telephone; social media marketing; and other.
^§Tobacco advertising in sports and sporting events was defined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as 1) expenditures used for the sponsoring, advertising, or promotion of sports or sporting events; support of an individual, group, or sports team; and purchase of or support for equipment, uniforms, sports facilities, and/or training facilities; 2) all expenditures for advertising in the name of the cigarette company or any of its brands in a sports facility, on a scoreboard, or in conjunction with the reporting of sports results; and 3) all expenditures for functional promotional items (clothing, hats, etc.) connected with a sporting event. Expenditures for sports and sporting events were not part of original line items collected by FTC for advertising and promotional expenditure categories, but were assessed by FTC from one or more of the above mutually exclusive categories (e.g., magazines, endorsements, sampling distribution, sponsorships, or outdoor).
^¶Dollar values were adjusted by the consumer price index (all items) to constant 2013 $US.

Table 2. Total and sports-related cigarette advertising and promotional expenditures, by year — United States, 1992–2013
Year	Total expenditure on cigarette advertising and promotion, all categories* (billion $)		Total expenditure on cigarette advertising and promotion, sports and sporting events^† (million $)		Proportion of total advertising and promotion expenditures spent on sports and sporting events (%)
Year	Unadjusted	Adjusted^§	Unadjusted	Adjusted^§
1992	5.2	8.7	82.0	136.0	1.6
1993	6.0	9.7	78.0	126.0	1.3
1994	4.8	7.6	76.0	119.0	1.6
1995	4.9	7.5	83.0	127.0	1.7
1996	5.1	7.6	85.0	126.0	1.7
1997	5.7	8.2	121.0	176.0	2.1
1998	6.7	9.6	126.0	180.0	1.9
1999	8.2	11.5	114.0	159.0	1.4
2000	9.6	13.0	128.0	173.0	1.3
2001	11.2	14.8	111.0	145.0	1.0
2002	12.5	16.1	110.0	142.0	0.9
2003	15.1	19.2	63.0	80.0	0.4
2004	14.2	17.5	28.0	35.0	0.2
2005	13.1	15.6	31.0	37.0	0.2
2006	12.5	14.4	N/A^¶	N/A^¶	N/A^¶
2007	10.9	12.2	33.0	37.0	0.3
2008	9.9	10.8	37.0	40.0	0.3
2009	8.5	9.3	N/A^¶	N/A^¶	N/A^¶
2010	8.0	8.6	0.0	0.0	0.0
2011	8.4	8.7	0.0	0.0	0.0
2012	9.2	9.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
2013	8.9	8.9	0.0	0.0	0.0

*Includes aggregate expenditures across the different cigarette advertising and promotional categories: newspapers; magazines; outdoor; transit; point-of-sale; price discounts; promotional allowances (retailers, wholesalers, and other); sampling distribution; specialty item distribution (branded and nonbranded); public entertainment (adult-only and general-audience); sponsorships; endorsements and testimonials; direct mail; coupons; retail-value-added–nontobacco bonus; company website; internet-other; telephone; social media marketing; and other.
^†Tobacco advertising in sports and sporting events was defined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as 1) expenditures used for the sponsoring, advertising, or promotion of sports or sporting events; support of an individual, group, or sports team; and purchase of or support for equipment, uniforms, sports facilities, and/or training facilities; 2) all expenditures for advertising in the name of the cigarette company or any of its brands in a sports facility, on a scoreboard, or in conjunction with the reporting of sports results; and 3) all expenditures for functional promotional items (clothing, hats, etc.) connected with a sporting event. Expenditures for sports and sporting events were not part of original line items collected by FTC for advertising and promotional expenditure categories, but were assessed by FTC from one or more of the above mutually exclusive categories (e.g., magazines, endorsements, sampling distribution, sponsorships, or outdoor).
^§Dollar values were adjusted by the consumer price index (all items) to constant 2013 $US.
^¶Estimates for sports-related cigarette marketing expenditures were reported by FTC as "N/A" in 2006 and 2009 because only one company reported spending money on a particular type of advertising or promotion. The expenditures for those years were included in the "All Others" category, to avoid potential disclosure of individual company data.