Abstract
IntroductionIn contrast to tobacco smoking, electronic cigarette (“vaping”) advertisement had been approved in the United Kingdom (UK) in January 2013. Currently, there are an estimated 3.2 million UK e-cigarette users. The impact of e-cigarette advertisement on tobacco use has not been studied in detail. We hypothesised that e-cigarette advertisement impacts on conventional smoking behaviour.MethodsA cross-sectional structured survey assessed the impact of e-cigarette advertising on the perceived social acceptability of cigarette and e-cigarette smoking and on using either cigarettes or e-cigarettes (on a scale of 1 to 5/‘not at all’ to ‘a lot’). The survey was administered between January to March 2015 to London university students, before and after viewing 5 UK adverts including a TV commercial.ResultsData were collected from 106 participants (22 ± 2 years, 66% male), comprising cigarette smokers (32%), non-smokers (54%) and ex-smokers (14%). This included vapers (16%), non-vapers (77%) and ex-vapers (7%). After viewing the adverts, smokers (2.6 ± 1.0 vs. 3.8 ± 1.1, p = 0.001) and non-smokers (3.2 ± 0.7 vs. 3.7 ± 0.8, p = 0.007) felt smoking was more socially acceptable, compared to before viewing them. Participants were more likely to try both e-cigarettes (1.90 ± 1.03 to 3.09 ± 1.11, p < 0.001) and conventional cigarettes (1.73 ± 0.83 to 2.27 ± 1.13, p < 0.001) after viewing the adverts compared to before. Vapers were less likely to smoke both an e-cigarette, and a conventional cigarette after viewing the adverts.ConclusionE-cigarette advertising encourages both e-cigarette and conventional cigarette use in young smokers and non-smokers. The adverts increase the social acceptability of smoking without regarding the importance of public health campaigns that champion smoking cessation.
Highlights
In contrast to tobacco smoking, electronic cigarette (“vaping”) advertisement had been approved in the United Kingdom (UK) in January 2013
We hypothesised that e-cigarette advertisement impacts on conventional smoking behaviour
While tobacco products that do not claim to have health benefits are subject to licensing by the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) [6], in the United Kingdom those that do claim to have health benefits are subject to licensing by the Medicine and Health Regulatory Authority (MHRA) [7]
Summary
In contrast to tobacco smoking, electronic cigarette (“vaping”) advertisement had been approved in the United Kingdom (UK) in January 2013. The development of e-cigarettes, otherwise known as vapourisers, has led to the delivery of inhaled nicotine without tobacco through a vapourised solution via battery-operated devices [1] Since their introduction in China in 2004 and in the United States of America in 2007, e-cigarettes. There are an estimated 3.2 million adults in Great Britain using e-cigarettes [3] Despite this figure, many unanswered questions about their safety, efficacy for harm reduction and impact on smoking cessation remain [4, 5]. Over a third of current e-cigarette users do so alongside the use of conventional cigarettes [3], putting the overall efficacy of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation into question. This has important implications as significant differences exist between the two forms of licensing with respect to tobacco products
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