The influences of advertising in the adoption of cigarette smoking in Nairobi

Abstract

This study was conducted with an objective of finding out the influences of advertising in adoption of cigarette smoking in Nairobi. The main objective being to test the extent to which various advertising attributes influences di fferent people to adopt smoking behavior as well as the continued loyalty. This was based on the fact that many smokers tend to be loyal to their brands once they adopt it. Therefore the study was set out to find out if advertising had any influence on this behaviour. To achieve the above objective, primary data was collected from a sample of 150 respondents, out of whom 136 responded successfully leading to a response rate of 91%, which was considered sufficient enough to achieve the intended objective. Ten respondent were selected randomly form fifteen major streets in the Central Business District as highlighted in the Kenya Postel Directory, 2004. Data was collected from only one hotel, Discotheque, or nightclub judgementally selected from each street. The collected data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics. These included tables, charts, and percentages. Frequency tables were used to summarize the extent to which each advertising attribute influenced adoption of cigarette smoking. The study found out that majority of the respondents rated most of the advertising attributes as not important in influencing them either to start or continue smoking. Majority of the smokers start smoking at the age of between 16 and 20 years, making up the primary target market for tobacco manufacturers in designing their advertising programs. Chapter five of the report discussed the major Issues as gathered from the research. Conclusions and suggestions for further research were also discussed. As recommendation, the Government of Kenya should carry out more research to establish the main factors influencing smoking since advertising was found not play a major role in influencing smoking. It is suggested that further research should be conducted in other parts of the country since, Nairobi being the capital city, may not represent views of the rural folks.