Tobacco companies researched the relationship of smoking and drinking in smokers and then identified and put in place marketing to specifically capitalize on that relationship, according to a new University of California study published online in the American Journal of Public Health.

The study, published online prior to October print publication, finds that tobacco companies performed extensive research on smokers' alcohol-related behaviors, and pursued a wide variety of marketing strategies to capitalize on those behaviors.

The study's authors investigated tobacco companies' knowledge about smokers' simultaneous smoking and drinking. The study also looked at marketing strategies linking cigarettes with alcohol and the benefits tobacco companies sought from these marketing strategies 

Tobacco company investigation indeed confirmed the association between alcohol use and tobacco use, according to what the researchers found in tobacco company documents. Researchers identified three main types of marketing strategies that tobacco companies used to link cigarettes with alcohol. That marketing included joint sponsorship, joint promotion and cigarette promotions featuring alcohol or alcohol paraphernalia.

Tobacco companies' numerous marketing strategies linking cigarettes with alcohol may have reinforced the use of both substances, according to the study's authors.