Examining how changes in provincial policy on vape marketing impacted the distribution of vaping advertisements near secondary schools in London, Ontario

Jason A Gilliland,Alexander J Wray,Andrew F Clark,Jamie A Seabrook,Gina Martin,Drew D Bowman,Zoe Askwith,Megan Graat

doi:10.17269/s41997-020-00453-9

Abstract

ObjectivesOn January 1, 2020, the Government of Ontario passed a regulation banning vaping advertisements by retailers, apart from specialty shops. A motivation for this ban was to limit youth exposure to vaping advertisements. The primary goal of this research was to evaluate the impact of this ban on the number and density of vaping advertisements surrounding secondary schools. Additionally, we examined whether the number of vaping advertisements varied by school socio-demographic characteristics.MethodsThis study used a pre-post design. Audits were conducted December 2019 (pre-ban) and again January to February 2020 (post-ban), to identify vaping advertisements within 800 m surrounding secondary schools (n = 18) in London, Ontario.ResultsPrior to the ban, there were 266 vaping advertisements within 800 m of secondary schools. After the ban, this was reduced to 58, a 78.2% reduction. The mean number of vaping advertisements surrounding schools significantly decreased from 18.1 before the ban to 3.6 after the ban (p < 0.001). A significant positive correlation was found, prior to the ban, between the number of vaping advertisements surrounding schools and school-level residential instability (r = 0.42, p = 0.02). After the ban, no significant correlations were found between the number of vaping advertisements and school socio-demographic characteristics.ConclusionThe provincial ban of vaping advertisements in select retail settings significantly reduced the number of vaping advertisements in the areas surrounding secondary schools in London, Ontario. The ban also reduced socio-demographic inequities in youths’ potential exposure to marketing of vaping products. Continued monitoring of the geographic accessibility and promotion of vaping products is warranted.

Highlights

Vaping among Canadian children and youth has increased substantially in recent years (Boak et al 2020; Cole et al 2020)
We examined whether the number and density of vaping advertisements varied by school socio-demographic characteristics, both before and after the advertising ban, as studies suggest that vape retailer locations might be geographically inequitable in relation to socio-demographic characteristics (Dai and Hao 2017; Giovenco et al 2016a, b; Robitaille et al 2019)
There were 100 retail sites identified within 800 m of the 18 secondary schools that could potentially advertise vape products

Summary

Introduction

Vaping among Canadian children and youth has increased substantially in recent years (Boak et al 2020; Cole et al 2020). In 2019, 23% of Ontario students in grades 7–12 had used a vaping device in the past year and 13% reported use weekly or daily (Boak et al 2020). The majority of Canadian youth who vaped did so with an e-liquid containing nicotine (Statistics Canada 2020). As vaping may lead to nicotine dependence and the long-term impacts of use on children and youth are unknown (Miyashita and Foley 2020), its increasing prevalence among this age group is a critical public health concern

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion