Abstract
BackgroundPoint of sale (POS) advertising is associated with smoking initiation, current smoking, and relapse among former smokers. Price promotion bans and antismoking advertisements (ads) are 2 possible interventions for combating POS advertising.ObjectiveThe purpose of this analysis was to determine the influence of antismoking ads and promotions on urges to smoke and tobacco purchases.MethodsThis analysis examined exposure to graphic (graphic images depicting physical consequences of tobacco use) and supportive (pictures of and supportive messages from former smokers) antismoking ads and promotions in a virtual convenience store as predictors of urge to smoke and buying tobacco products among 1200 current cigarette smokers and 800 recent quitters recruited via a Web-based panel (analytical n=1970). We constructed linear regression models for urge to smoke and logistic regression models for the odds of purchasing tobacco products, stratified by smoking status.ResultsThe only significant finding was a significant negative relationship between exposure to supportive antismoking ads and urge to smoke among current smokers (beta coefficient=−5.04, 95% CI −9.85 to −0.22; P=.04). There was no significant relationship between graphic antismoking ads and urge to smoke among current smokers (coefficient=−3.77, 95% CI −8.56 to 1.02; P=.12). Neither relationship was significant for recent quitters (graphic: coefficient=−3.42, 95% CI −8.65 to 1.81; P=.15 or supportive: coefficient=−3.82, 95% CI −8.99 to 1.36; P=.20). There were no significant differences in urge to smoke by exposure to promotions for current smokers (coefficient=−1.06, 95% CI −4.53 to 2.41; P=.55) or recent quitters (coefficient=1.76, 95% CI −2.07 to 5.59; P=.37). There were also no differences in tobacco purchases by exposure to graphic (current smokers: coefficient=0.93, 95% CI 0.67 to 1.29; P=.66 and recent quitters: coefficient=0.73, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.19; P=.20) or supportive (current smokers: coefficient=1.05, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.46; P=.78 and recent quitters: coefficient=0.73, 95% CI 0.45 to 1.18; P=.20) antismoking ads or price promotions (current smokers: coefficient=1.09, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.38; P=.49 and recent quitters: coefficient=0.90, 95% CI 0.62 to 1.31; P=.60).ConclusionsThe results of this analysis support future research on the ability of supportive antismoking ads to reduce urges to smoke among current cigarette smokers. Research on urges to smoke has important tobacco control implications, given the relationship between urge to smoke and smoking cigarettes, time to next smoke, and amount smoked.
Highlights
BackgroundTobacco advertising promotes tobacco use, which results in 480,000 deaths each year in the United States [1]
The results of this analysis support future research on the ability of supportive antismoking ads to reduce urges to smoke among current cigarette smokers
To further understand the potential effects of antismoking ads, price promotions, and their combined effect on urges to smoke and tobacco purchases, we used RTI iShoppe, a virtual convenience store developed by RTI International, to conduct an experiment that used a virtual convenience store to vary these aspects of the retail environment
Summary
BackgroundTobacco advertising promotes tobacco use, which results in 480,000 deaths each year in the United States [1]. POS marketing influences susceptibility to smoking among youth [3,4] and quitting behavior among adults [5,6]. 2 common and effective POS marketing techniques are tobacco displays (ie, large, colorful displays of tobacco products often referred to as power walls [7]) and price promotions, such as coupons and multipack discounts [8]. Tobacco displays and other forms of protobacco advertising at the POS have been associated with cravings to smoke among current and former tobacco users [9]. Tobacco displays are associated with susceptibility to smoking among youth, fewer successful quit attempts among adults, and unplanned purchases of tobacco products among tobacco users [3,5,6,10,11,12]. Price promotion bans and antismoking advertisements (ads) are 2 possible interventions for combating POS advertising
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