Kids may be vulnerable to advertising for cigarettes and alcohol on the World Wide Web.

Alcohol and tobacco companies are using the Internet to market and promote their products, capitalizing on the unique features of the World Wide Web to create interactive sites that are appealing to young people, according to a study released last month by the nonprofit Center for Medical Education.

In a survey of more than 300 Web sites, the center found hundreds that indiscriminately promote the use of alcohol and tobacco products.

Major alcoholic-beverage companies are a growing commercial presence on the Internet, with Web sites established for several dozen brands, according to the report.

At a press briefing last month, the center urged the Federal Trade Commission to look into the issue of cigarette and alcohol advertising on the Internet. The organization also recommended that the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention address the issue.

"The cigarette industry should refrain from moving onto the Internet to market and promote its products," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Medical Education. "If companies fail to comply with the Cigarette Act, appropriate legal action should be taken."

(The Cigarette Act, which has kept advertising of cigarettes off radio and television since 1971, applies to "any medium of electronic communication subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission.")

APA Deputy Medical Director Deborah Zarin, M.D., who was present at the press briefing last month, underscored the center's findings.

"Marketing of alcohol and tobacco products on the World Wide Web can be a deadly snare for children and teenagers who are especially vulnerable both to addiction and to the sophisticated blandishments of marketing experts," she said. "This double degree of vulnerability is of particular concern to the psychiatric physicians who treat substance use disorders in young patients.

"APA strongly supports the initiative of the Center for Media Education. . .to raise public awareness of the increasing presence of alcohol and tobacco advertising on this powerful new interactive medium, and of the great public health risks to youth."

Insidious Strategies

Zarin noted in her remarks that advertising of cigarettes and alcohol on the Web often involves more insidious strategies than merely displaying well-known brand logos. In some instances advertising is part of interactive games; in other cases, Web browsers are invited to purchase products such as backpacks and jackets branded with company names.

"The Center for Media Education's report sounds an alarm for parents and policymakers," Zarin said. ". . .The companies that produce alcohol and tobacco products may argue that their marketing is not intended to persuade under-age young people," Zarin continued. "However, as a psychiatric physician, I join the Center for Media Education in its urgent call for greater awareness on the part of parents, children, and policymakers of the adverse effect on public health of this marketing, which has been proven to reach and persuade our most vulnerable citizens, our children."

Aggressive Campaigns

The center's study identified a variety of techniques used to market and promote alcohol and tobacco products.

Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, for instance, recently began running Lucky Strike print ads to attract visitors to an online Web magazine that collects information about Web browsers and offers free T-shirts, the center noted in its report.

The Budweiser online radio network, "KBUD," hosted by disc jockey Buddy K, intersperses music, interviews with rock stars, and reviews of albums with a steady stream of promotions for beer.

Other sites have interactive games featuring brand characters. Cuervo Tequila has a Web site with an interactive game called "J.C. Roadhog Adventure," featuring a "cyber rodent" who zooms across a desert littered with empty tequila bottles and other Cuervo merchandising icons.

Some Web sites also feature chat rooms especially designed for smokers and drinkers. At Smokey's Cafe, on the Smoker's homepage, visitors can view glamorous photographs of famous celebrities smoking, chat with other smokers, read pro-smoking articles, and consult lists of cigarette and cigar vendors.

An executive summary of the report is available on the center's Web site at .

The full report can be obtained for $20 by contacting the Center for Media Education, 1511 K Street, N.W., Suite 518, Washington, D.C. 20005.

(Psychiatric News, April 4, 1997)