Tobacco.org

• Majority Favors Ban on Tobacco Ads 

Whatever qualms they may have about Big Government, people in business are more strongly averse to Big Tobacco. So we can infer, at any rate, from the results of a poll conducted for AdweekMedia among members of LinkedIn.

Participants were asked whether, when it comes to marketing tobacco, the government should ban advertising altogether, regulate it more strictly or leave the rules as is. A majority, 56 percent, said they'd favor an outright ban on tobacco advertising -- a step Congress has shown little if any sign of daring to take. Nineteen percent said they'd like the government to regulate it more strictly, while 23 percent favored leaving the rules as is. (To see the full results of this survey, click here. And to participate in another ad-related LinkedIn poll for AdweekMedia, click here.)

While the poll's younger respondents were less apt than their elders to favor a ban on tobacco advertising, that position still commanded a majority among the 18-24-year-olds (52 percent) and the 25-34-year-olds (53 percent). It also was backed by 61 percent of the 35-54s and the same proportion of those 55 and older. There was just a slight gender gap in the results, with 58 percent of women and 55 percent of men saying the government should ban tobacco advertising altogether.

Though they have their own problems with government regulation, business owners in the poll weren't cutting the tobacco industry any slack: 61 percent said they'd favor a ban on tobacco advertising, with another 13 percent saying the government should regulate it more strictly.

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