Underage tobacco use is a complex issue for which there is no one simple solution. There is no single reason why young people engage in risky behaviors, such as experimenting with tobacco products, alcohol or drugs. Experts point to a variety of societal, environmental and personal factors that must be considered to help prevent these behaviors, and recommend a multi-faceted approach. That’s why we support a positive youth development approach to preventing underage tobacco use, emphasizing positive relationships and activities, and reducing risk factors. This approach can help kids make healthy decisions and resist a broad range of risky behaviors, such as tobacco use.
We support a variety of programs and initiatives to help reduce underage access to tobacco products, fund organizations that provide kids with the support they need to make healthy decisions, and support the development of tools for parents to help them raise kids who don’t use any tobacco products.
In addition to complying with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, we take a number of steps designed to limit the reach of our brands and marketing materials to unintended audiences. For example, we:
- focus our marketing efforts on direct communications, websites and other activities that adhere to self-imposed minimum-age requirements and age-verification procedures, and at retail where adult tobacco consumers make their purchasing decisions;
- offer retail programs with requirements and financial incentives for participating retailers to sell our products only in clerk-assisted transactions; displaying We Card® or equivalent signage and using an age-verification tool; and
- do not pay for or endorse any product placement. We decline all requests to use, display or even reference our brands in movies, television shows or other public entertainment media.
We follow Altria Group’s Standards for Underage Tobacco Prevention.
