Cigarette Industry Ad Budget Fell In 1994

The cigarette industry spent $1.2 billion less on advertising and promotions in 1994 than in the previous year, the first drop in the industry’s massive marketing budget since 1986.

Cigarette makers spent $4.83 billion in 1994, down almost 20 percent from $6.03 billion the previous year, the Federal Trade Commission reported Wednesday.

Most of the drop came from promotions that directly hit consumers’ wallets: coupons, multiple-pack discounts and other so-called “value-added promotions.” Cigarette makers cut in half spending on such promotions, to $1.25 billion, down from an all-time high of $2.56 billion in 1993, the FTC said in its annual report to Congress.