Tobacco Company Marketing Expenditures

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In 2020, adjusted combined annual expenditures for cigarette advertising and promotion was $7.8 billion.

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Background

Tobacco advertising and promotion are causally related to increased tobacco use. Cigarettes are one of the most heavily marketed products in the U.S. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reported cigarette sales and marketing expenditures annually since 1967 and smokeless tobacco sales and marketing expenditures periodically since 1987. These reports highlight spending on advertising and promotion by the largest cigarette companies and major smokeless tobacco product manufacturers in the U.S. The sales and marketing expenditures reported include categories such as direct mail, Internet, point of sale, price discounts, coupons, sampling distribution, and sponsorships. In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission issued orders to six of the country’s largest domestic e-cigarette manufacturers to request similar information starting with the year 2015. 

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed into law on June 22, 2009, provides the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with broad authority to regulate tobacco product marketing. This legislation affirms state and community authority to regulate, among other things, the sale, distribution, access to, advertising and promotion of, or use of tobacco products.

Measure

Combined cigarette annual advertising and promotional expenditures by the parent companies of the major manufacturers of cigarettes sold in the U.S., adjusted, as reported by manufacturers to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Combined smokeless tobacco annual advertising and promotional expenditures by the parent companies of the major manufacturers of smokeless tobacco products in the U.S., adjusted, as reported by manufacturers to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Combined e-cigarette annual advertising and promotional expenditures by the largest U.S. domestic manufacturers, adjusted, as reported by manufacturers to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Note: Estimates are adjusted to 2020 dollars using the Gross Domestic Product: Implicit Price Deflator.

Healthy People 2030 Target

  • There are no Healthy People 2030 targets for reducing tobacco company marketing expenditures.

Healthy People 2030 is a set of goals set forth by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Data Source

Trends and Most Recent EstimatesHelp with navigating the graphs and data tables

Cigarettes

Domestic cigarette advertising and promotional expenditures by U.S. tobacco companies adjusted to 2020 dollars, 1970-2020
Overview Graph Detailed Trend Graphs Most Recent Estimates (2020)
Dollars spent (in billions) 95% Confidence Interval
Thumbnail of graph for Domestic cigarette advertising and promotional expenditures by U.S. tobacco companies adjusted to 2020 dollars, 1970-2020 Total Marketing ExpendituresClick to see the detailed trend graph for Total Marketing Expenditures 7.8 Not available

Smokeless Tobacco

Domestic smokeless tobacco advertising and promotional expenditures by U.S. tobacco companies adjusted to 2020 dollars, 1985-2020
Overview Graph Detailed Trend Graphs Most Recent Estimates (2020)
Dollars spent (in millions) 95% Confidence Interval
Thumbnail of graph for Domestic smokeless tobacco advertising and promotional expenditures by U.S. tobacco companies adjusted to 2020 dollars, 1985-2020 Total Marketing ExpendituresClick to see the detailed trend graph for Total Marketing Expenditures 576.3 Not available

E-Cigarettes

Domestic e-cigarette advertising and promotional expenditures by U.S. tobacco companies adjusted to 2020 dollars, 2015-2020
Overview Graph Detailed Trend Graphs Most Recent Estimates (2020)
Dollars spent (in millions) 95% Confidence Interval
Thumbnail of graph for Domestic e-cigarette advertising and promotional expenditures by U.S. tobacco companies adjusted to 2020 dollars, 2015-2020 Total Marketing ExpendituresClick to see the detailed trend graph for Total Marketing Expenditures 719.9 Not available

Additional Information on Tobacco Company Marketing Expenditures

Quitting Resources

Year Range

1970-2020

Recent Summary Trend Year Range

2016-2020

Summary Tables

Tobacco Company Marketing Expenditures

Recent Summary Trend

Falling

Desired Direction

Falling