Since then, legal advertising in Australia has been largely limited to point of sale displays (for which statewide restrictions were introduced between 1997 and 2006) and sponsorship though of international sporting events with exemptions from the bans, such as Grand Prix car racing, which continued to display tobacco industry sponsors�� logos until 2006 and contributed greatly to awareness of the Marlboro brand in particular (Scollo & Winstanley, 2008). The Australian menthol market is split between several ��stand-alone�� menthol brands and menthol ��line extensions�� within ��brand families�� where the original or ��parent�� brand is nonmenthol. One ��stand-alone�� menthol brand, Philip Morris�� Alpine (since line extended into an all-menthol brand family), has long been the most well-recognized menthol brand.

Advertising for Alpine prior to the end of electronic and print media advertising was highly feminized and strongly focused on younger smokers (Carter, 2001, 2003a, 2003b). There are also suggestions that marketing efforts were directed toward adolescent smokers. From 1986 to 1989, Alpine was one of a handful of Australian brands to be sold in packs of 15 cigarettes. This pack size was likely to have a strong appeal to adolescents due to its cheaper price. Advertising also focused on the small size of the pack, suggesting how easily it could be hidden. In more recent years, Philip Morris used various forms of ��stealth marketing��, including fashion events to promote the Alpine brand to young women (Carter, 2001, 2003a, 2003b; Harper, 2001; Winstanley et al., 1995).

Internal Philip Morris documents show that the company was concerned about the effect of increasing advertising restrictions on ��image-driven�� brands and that maintaining the market share of Alpine among younger women smokers was a high priority for the company (Philip Morris, 1987; 1994a; 1994b). One document (Philip Morris, 1994b), concerning a proposal to redesign the package, noted that Alpine retained a strong share of new smokers (around twice that of its total smoker share) but that its declining share of the ��key�� 18�C24 segment posed a threat to the long-term future of the GSK-3 brand. In this paper, we use data from three national prevalence studies in Australia to examine trends in the market share of menthol cigarettes (Alpine among adolescents) over the period 1980�C2008. We also explore whether the trends are consistent with Alpine being a starter cigarette for Australian adolescents. Methods Data Sources Adolescent Smoking The adolescent data are taken from the triennial Australian Secondary Students Alcohol and Drug Survey (ASSAD).