Recognition of cigarette brand names and logos by young children in Hong Kong

Abstract

Correspondence to : AJ Hedley, Department of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong, 7 Sassoon Road, Hong Kong Abstract Objective -To examine the recognition of cigarette brand names and logos by Hong Kong primary school children. Design Cross-sectional survey with self-completed questionnaires ex amining smoking behaviour and recog nition of 13 food, drink, cigarette, and toothpaste brand names and logos. Subjects A total of 9591 primary school children (mean age = 10.3; SD = 1.29) living in two districts of Hong Kong included in 1991 as part of a four-year respiratory health, smoking, and air pol lution study which started in 1989. Results Ever-smoking prevalence was 11% (1067); 15% (759) in boys and 7% (308) in girls, and increased with age. Mean age of smoking the first cigarette was 7.8 years. Brand recognition ranged from 53% (Salem name) to 95% (Marlboro name and Salem logo). Signifi cant differences were found by gender and by smoking status for the identi fication of drink, cigarette, and tooth paste brand groups. After adjustment in a logistic regression model, ever smokers, who were more likely to be boys (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.22; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.91 to 2.57), of older age (OR = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.46 to 1.62), living in Kwai Tsing district (OR = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.14 to 1.50), were more successful than never-smokers in identi fying cigarette brands (OR = 1.82; 95% CI = 1.57 to 2.12). Conclusion Smoking is a paediatric health problem in Hong Kong; tobacco advertisements are widely recognised by young children and associated with smoking experience. A total ban on en vironmental advertising is needed as part of a comprehensive policy for the pre vention of smoking-related disease in Hong Kong.