Looking for a Market among Adolescents Reading Answers

Apr 24, 2025

Looking for a Market among Adolescents is an IELTS Reading Answer which contains 6 questions and needs to be completed within 10 minutes. This reading answer also helps you to prepare for your IELTS exam. Looking for a Market among Adolescents consists of questions like: Write appropriate numbers, Write no more than three words or numbers, and Do the following statement agree with the information in the passage. Participants should go through the IELTS Reading passage to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions. Also, Looking for a Market among Adolescents Reading Answers speaks about how companies target adolescent markets, their strategies, and consumer behavior. Candidates can use IELTS reading practice questions and answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

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Topic:

Looking for a Market among Adolescents

In 1992, the most recent year for which data are available, the US tobacco industry spent $5 billion on domestic marketing. That figure represents a huge increase from the approximate £250-million budget in 1971, when tobacco advertising was banned from television and radio. The current expenditure translates to about $75 for every adult smoker, or to $4,500 for every adolescent who became a smoker that year. This apparently high cost to attract a new smoker is very likely recouped over the average 25 years that this teen will smoke.

In the first half of this century, leaders of the tobacco companies boasted that innovative mass-marketing strategies built the industry. Recently, however, the tobacco business has maintained that its advertising is geared to draw established smokers to particular brands. But public health advocates insist that such advertising plays a role in generating new demand, with adolescents being the primary target. To explore the issue, we examined several marketing campaigns undertaken over the years and correlated them with the ages smokers say they began their habit. We find that, historically, there is considerable evidence that such campaigns led to an increase in cigarette smoking among adolescents of the targeted group.

National surveys collected the ages at which people started smoking. The 1955 Current Population Survey (CPS) was the first to query respondents for this information, although only summary data survive. Beginning in 1970, however, the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS) included this question in some polls. Answers from all the surveys were combined to produce a sample of more than 165,000 individuals. Using a respondent's age at the time of the survey and the reported age of initiation, [age they started smoking], the year the person began smoking could be determined. Dividing the number of adolescents (defined as those 12 to 17 years old) who started smoking during a particular interval by the number who were "eligible" to begin at the start of the interval set the initiation rate for that group.

Mass-marketing campaigns began as early as the 1880s, which boosted tobacco consumption six-fold by 1900. Much of the rise was attributed to a greater number of people smoking cigarettes, as opposed to using cigars, pipes, snuff or chewing tobacco. Marketing strategies included painted billboards and an extensive distribution of coupons, which a recipient could redeem for free cigarettes... Some brands included soft-porn pictures of women in the packages. Such tactics inspired outcry from educational leaders concerned about their corrupting influence on teenage boys. Thirteen percent of the males surveyed in 1955 who reached adolescence between 1890 and 1910 commenced smoking by 18 years of age, compared with almost no females.

The power of targeted advertising is more apparent if one considers the men born between 1890 and 1899. In 1912, when many of these men were teenagers, the R.J. Reynolds company launched the Camel brand of cigarettes with a revolutionary approach. ... Every city in the country was bombarded with print advertising. According to the 1955 CPS, initiation by age 18 for males in this group jumped to 21.6 percent, a two-thirds increase over those boom before 1890. The NHIS initiation rate also reflected this change. For adolescent males, it went up from 2.9 percent between 1910 and 1912 to 4.9 percent between 1918 and 1921.

It was not until the mid-1920s that social mores permitted cigarette advertising to focus on women.... In 1926 a poster depicted women imploring smokers of Chesterfield cigarettes to "Blow Some My Way". The most successful crusade, however, was for Lucky Strikes, which urged women to "Reach for a Lucky instead of a Sweet." The 1955 CPS data showed that 7 percent of the women who were adolescents during the mid-1920s had started smoking by age 18, compared with only 2 percent in the preceding generation of female adolescents.

Initiation rates from the NHIS data for adolescent girls were observed to increase threefold, from 0.6 percent between 1922 and 1925 to 1.8 percent between 1930 and 1933. In contrast, rates for males rose only slightly.

The next major boost in smoking initiation in adolescent females occurred in the late 1960s. In 1967 the tobacco industry launched "niche" brands aimed exclusively at women. The most popular was Virginia Slims. The visuals of this campaign emphasized a woman who was strong, independent and very thin. ... Initiation in female adolescents nearly doubled, from 3.7 percent between 1964 and 1967 to 6.2 percent between 1972 and 1975 (NHIS data). During the same period, rates for adolescent males remained stable.

Thus, in four distinct instances over the past 100 years, innovative and directed tobacco marketing campaigns were associated with marked surges in primary demand from adolescents only in the target group. The first two were directed at males and the second two at females. Of course, other factors helped to entrench smoking in society.... Yet it is clear from the data that advertising has been an overwhelming force in attracting new users.

Questions 14-19

Write the appropriate numbers (i-xi) in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i. Gathering the information

ii. Cigarettes produced to match an image

ili. Financial outlay on marketing

iv. The first advertising methods

v. Pressure causes a drop in sales

vi. Changing attitudes allow new marketing tactics

vii. Background to the research

viii. A public uproar is avoided

ix. The innovative move to written adverts

x. A century of uninhibited smoking xi. Conclusions of the research

14. Paragraph A

Answer: iii. Financial outlay on marketing

Supporting statement: "In 1992... the US tobacco industry spent $5 billion on domestic marketing... a huge increase from the approximate $250-million budget in 1971."

Keywords: financial outlay, marketing, cost

Keyword Location: Paragraph A, Lines 1-3

Explanation: The paragraph focuses on the massive increase in spending on tobacco marketing over the years, highlighting the financial investment to attract new smokers.

15. Paragraph B

Answer: vii. Background to the research

Supporting statement: "To explore the issue, we examined several marketing campaigns... and correlated them with the ages smokers say they began their habit."

Keywords: research, background, examined campaigns

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Lines 4-6

Explanation: This paragraph introduces the research topic and outlines how the study explored the relationship between tobacco marketing and the age of smoking initiation.

16. Paragraph C

Answer: i. Gathering the information

Supporting statement: "National surveys collected the ages at which people started smoking... combined to produce a sample of more than 165,000 individuals."

Keywords: surveys, collected data, gathering information

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Lines 1-4

Explanation: This paragraph describes how data on smoking initiation was gathered from various national surveys, focusing on data collection methods.

17. Paragraph E

Answer: ix. The innovative move to written adverts

Supporting statement: "In 1912... the R.J. Reynolds company launched the Camel brand... Every city in the country was bombarded with print advertising."

Keywords: print advertising, innovative, written adverts

Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Lines 2-4

Explanation: The paragraph highlights the significant shift to widespread print advertising with the Camel campaign, marking an innovative marketing strategy.

18. Paragraph F

Answer: vi. Changing attitudes allow new marketing tactics

Supporting statement: "It was not until the mid-1920s that social mores permitted cigarette advertising to focus on women... urged women to 'Reach for a Lucky instead of a Sweet.'"

Keywords: changing attitudes, new marketing, women targeted

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Lines 1-4

Explanation: The paragraph explains how evolving societal attitudes towards women allowed tobacco companies to adopt new advertising strategies targeting female smokers.

19. Paragraph G

Answer: ii. Cigarettes produced to match an image

Supporting statement: "The most popular was Virginia Slims... emphasized a woman who was strong, independent and very thin."

Keywords: image, marketing, targeted women

Keyword Location: Paragraph G, Lines 2-4

Explanation: This paragraph focuses on marketing cigarettes to appeal to a specific image and identity, particularly targeting women’s aspirations and self-image.

Questions 20-24

Do the following statements agree with the information in

Reading Passage 2?

YES if the statement is true according to the passage

NO if the statement contradicts the passage

NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage

20. Cigarette marketing has declined in the US since tobacco advertising banned on TV.

Answer: NO

Supporting statement: "In 1992, the most recent year for which data are available, the US tobacco industry spent $5 billion on domestic marketing. That figure represents a huge increase from the approximate $250-million budget in 1971, when tobacco advertising was banned from television and radio."

Keywords: cigarette marketing, declined, since advertising banned

Keyword Location: Paragraph A, Lines 1-3

Explanation: The passage states that tobacco marketing spending increased significantly after the TV advertising ban, contradicting the statement.

21. Tobacco companies claim that their advertising targets existing smokers.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: "Recently, however, the tobacco business has maintained that its advertising is geared to draw established smokers to particular brands."

Keywords: tobacco companies, advertising, targets existing smokers

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Line 3

Explanation: The passage confirms that tobacco companies claim their advertising is aimed at existing smokers.

22. The difference in initiation rates between male and female smokers at of the 19th century was due to selective marketing.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: "Some brands included soft-porn pictures of women in the packages. Such tactics inspired outcry from educational leaders concerned about their corrupting influence on teenage boys... Thirteen percent of the males surveyed in 1955... commenced smoking by 18 years of age, compared with almost no females."

Keywords: difference, initiation rates, male and female, selective marketing

Keyword Location: Paragraph D, Lines 4-7

Explanation: The targeted marketing toward males (e.g., images appealing to boys) explains the higher male initiation rates compared to females.

23. Women who took up smoking in the past lost weight.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Supporting statement:

Keywords:

Keyword Location:

Explanation: While campaigns like "Reach for a Lucky instead of a Sweet" implied an association with weight control, the passage does not mention actual weight loss among women.

24. The two surveys show different trends in cigarette initiation.

Answer: NO

Supporting statement: "The NHIS initiation rate also reflected this change." / "The 1955 CPS data showed..."

Keywords: two surveys, different trends

Keyword Location: Paragraphs E and F

Explanation: Both the CPS and NHIS surveys show similar trends in smoking initiation rates, not different ones.

Questions 25 and 26

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Tobacco companies are currently being accused of aiming their advertisements mainly at .... (25)....

Answer: adolescents

Supporting statement: "But public health advocates insist that such advertising plays a role in generating new demand, with adolescents being the primary target."

Keywords: accused, aiming advertisements, mainly at

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Line 5

Explanation: The passage states that public health advocates believe tobacco advertisements are primarily targeting adolescents, despite industry claims of targeting established smokers.

Statistics on smoking habits for men born between 1890 and 1899 were gathered in the year..... (26)......

Answer: 1955

Supporting statement: "The 1955 Current Population Survey (CPS) was the first to query respondents for this information, although only summary data survive."

Keywords: statistics, smoking habits, men born between 1890 and 1899, gathered

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 2

Explanation: The passage states that the 1955 CPS collected data on smoking habits, including those of men born between 1890 and 1899.

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