News and Research Round Up – Counter Tobacco

Welcome to CounterTobacco.org’s “News and Research Roundup!” Each month we post a summary of the latest research, reports, and news stories on counteracting tobacco product sales and marketing at the point of sale (POS). Keeping up with what’s happening in the POS movement all across the country can help you choose policies and strategies that work best for your community. New research can help provide support for your work and evidence for the importance of the “War in the Store.” Have a story you don’t want us to miss? E-mail it to us!

New Research

Point of Sale Advertising and Displays

The Association between Point-of-Sale Advertising Bans and Youth Experimental Smoking:Findings from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), AIMS Public Health
- Comparing data across 130 different countries, researchers found that implementation of a POS advertising ban is associated with 31% less experimental smoking among youth.
Influence of point-of-sale tobacco displays and plain black and white cigarette packaging and advertisements on adults: Evidence from a virtual store experimental study, Addictive Behaviors
- In a virtual convenience store, recently quit smokers had lower urges to smoke and were less likely to attempt to purchase cigarettes when the store’s tobacco product display was enclosed behind a cabinet (simulating a “display ban”) compared to when the store’s display was fully visible. Similarly, current smokers shopping in the store condition that used plain packaging for cigarettes, coupled with black and white, text-only advertisements, were significantly less likely to attempt to purchase cigarettes than those shopping in the store with full-color cigarette packaging and advertisements. This study provides evidence for display bans and for plain packaging and advertisements as a way to help adults maintain cessation or reduce their smoking.
The Association of Exposure to Point-of-Sale Tobacco Marketing with Quit Attempt and Quit Success: Results from a Prospective Study of Smokers in the United States, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- This study found that smokers exposed to higher levels of POS tobacco marketing (including product displays, advertisements, and promotions) had a lower probability of a successful quit attempts compared to smokers exposed to lower levels of POS tobacco marketing.
Learn more about display bans and policies that restrict tobacco advertising and promotions.

Density

Tobacco Retail Outlet Density and Young Adult Tobacco Initiation, Nicotine & Tobacco Research
- Young adults 18-24 years old living in areas with high tobacco retailer density were over three times more likely to have recently initiated non-cigarette combustible products than those living in areas with lower retailer density. Similarly, individuals 25-34 years old living in areas with high tobacco retailer density were nearly four times more likely to have initiated cigarette use in past six months than those living in areas with lower retailer density. This provides further evidence that retailer density is associated with greater rates of tobacco use initiation.
Learn more about strategies to combat tobacco retailer density, such as licensing and zoning.

E-cigarettes

Impact of advertisements promoting candy-like flavoured e-cigarettes on appeal of tobacco smoking among children: an experimental study, Tobacco Control
- Advertisements for flavored e-cigarettes elicited greater interest in buying and trying e-cigarettes among UK youth ages 11-16 compared to advertisements for non-flavored e-cigarettes.
The effect of potential electronic nicotine delivery system regulations on nicotine product selection, Addiction
- This study found that increasing the prices of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) from $3 to $6 was associated with a 13.6% reduction in smokers’ selection of ENDS. Warning labels reduced ENDS selection by 1.1% (proposed FDA warning label) to 5.1% (MarkTen warning label). Restricting flavors was associated with a 2.1% reduction in selection overall, while youth presented wtih multiple flavored ENDS options were 3.7% more likely to choose ENDS. This indicates that increased taxes and more severe warning labels may discourage adult smokers from choosing ENDS, and reducing the availability of flavors may reduce ENDS use by youth smokers.
- News story: Eliminating Flavors from E-cigarettes May Benefit Public Health More than Taxing Them, Weill Cornell Newsroom
Longitudinal study of e-cigarette use and onset of cigarette smoking among high school students in Hawaii, Tobacco Control
- High school student who had never smoked but who used e-cigarettes were nearly three times as likely to have initiated cigarette smoking a year later compared to those who had not used e-cigarettes. Learn more about e-cigarettes at the point of sale.
- News Story: Teen vaping leads to teen smoking, new study suggests, Los Angeles Times
Cherry-flavoured electronic cigarettes expose users to the inhalation irritant, benzaldehyde, Thorax
Learn more about e-cigarettes at the point of sale.