A report released yesterday from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on cigarette and smokeless tobacco sales and marketing expenditures show that in 2020, cigarettes sales increased for the first time in 20 years, with cigarettes sales from tobacco companies to wholesalers and retailers rising from $202.9 billion in 2019 to $203.7 billion in 2020. To no surprise, tobacco company marketing expenditures increased along with sales, with marketing expenditures for cigarettes rising by 3% overall and 4% specifically in the retail environment. Sales of smokeless tobacco also increased, and while total marketing expenditures for smokeless tobacco decreased by 2%, the proportion of spending in the retail environment increased by 2%.
In 2020, the tobacco industry spent over $6.8 billion marketing and promoting cigarettes and smokeless tobacco directly in retail stores, or at the point of sale (POS). These POS expenditures account for over 81% of the tobacco companies’ total marketing dollars spent on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco combined. These figures from the Federal Trade Commission Reports on Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco Sales and Marketing Expenditures in 2020, released this month, document a continued concentration of tobacco industry expenditures in the retail environment.