Re-testing the link between youth receptivity to tobacco promotion and their susceptibility to smoke

The Index of Receptivity to Tobacco Industry Promotion (IRTIP) is a model that is used by hundreds of articles. The causal claim based on findings from this model is even more pervasive, and has resulted in much of the modern post 1998 tobacco legislation that is still enforced. This thesis tested the link between adolescent receptivity to tobacco industry promotion and susceptibility to smoking. Pierce et al. (1998) reported that they had found a positive and causal association between receptivity and susceptibility by using IRTIP. They claimed that receptivity to tobacco industry promotion was the only significant causal factor affecting adolescent susceptibility to smoking. Exposure to peer and parental smoking was not found to be a significant effect. A review of the literature found that many sections of IRTIP differ from accepted marketing theory on how cigarette advertising and promotions affect adolescent adoption of cigarette smoking. The proxy measures used in IRTIP were shown to diverge from those previously used for measuring the constructs of Attention, Intention, Desire and Action (AIDA) in marketing communications. IRTIP also differs from previous theory by including measures that attempt to quantify the effect of tobacco premiums into a model that was designed to measure the effects of advertising.