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
Receptivity to Tobacco Advertising and Susceptibility to Tobacco Products, Pediatrics
- An analysis of data from the nationally representative PATH (Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health) study found that 41% of US youth ages 12-13 and approximately half of youth ages 14-17 were receptive to at least one tobacco advertisement. Receptivity was consistently highest across age groups for e-cigarettes. Receptivity to advertising for any tobacco product was associated with increased susceptibility to cigarette smoking.
- News story: Noncigarette Tobacco Advertising May be Hazardous to a Teen’s Health, American Academy of Pediatrics
- Point-of-Sale E-cigarette Advertising Among Tobacco Stores, Journal of Community Health
- Assessments of tobacco stores in the Omaha metro area in Nebraska between April and June 2014 found that overall, 54.2% of the 463 stores assessed had advertisements for e-cigarettes, while 77% of convenience stores (with or without gas) and 73% of pharmacies or drug stores had e-cigarette advertisements. Stores with POS e-cigarette advertisements were more likely to be located in areas with more non-Hispanic white residents, as well as areas with higher socio-economic status (higher per-capita income and more residents with at least a high school education), compared to stores without POS e-cigarette advertisements.
- Learn more about e-cigarettes at the point of sale.
Flavored Tobacco Products
Trends in Sales of Flavored and Menthol Tobacco Products in the United States during 2011-2015, Nicotine & Tobacco Research
- An analysis of Universal Product Code tobacco sales data collected by Nielsen between October 2011 and January 2016 showed that sales of menthol cigarettes, little cigars, moist snuff and snus as well a other flavored cigarillos and chewing tobacco have increased since 2011. During this time period nearly one-third of all cigarettes sold were mentholated. The researchers also found regional and state-level variations, which reinforces the importance of state and local-level efforts to address flavored tobacco product use.
- Correlates of Cigar Use by Type and Flavor among US Young Adults: 2011-2015, Tobacco Regulatory Science
- News Story: Young adult cigar smoking trends underscore the need for flavor regulations, Truth Initiative
Product Watch
- Heat-Not-Burn Tobacco Cigarettes: Smoke by Any Other Name, JAMA Internal Medicine
- News story: ‘Heat-not-burn’ cigarettes still release cancer-causing chemicals, Reuters
- Cigarette Filter Ventilation and its Relationship to Increasing Rates of Lung Adenocarcinoma, Journal of the National Cancer Institute
- News story: Cigarette filters may increase lung cancer risk, Reuters
Policy Impact
- Computational Models Used to Assess US Tobacco Control Policies, Nicotine & Tobacco Research
- This systematic review assessed the evidence from computational models used to project population-level effects of six different tobacco control interventions: taxation, youth prevention, smoke-free policies, mass media campaigns, marketing/advertising restrictions, and product regulation. Researchers found that the effects of taxation were the most robust, with tax increases of $0.71 to $4.63 yielding reductions in smoking prevalence from 8% to 46%. The effects of the other interventions were more heterogeneous, but multi-component interventions also produced more favorable results.
- Effect of message congruency on attention and recall in pictorial health warning labels, Tobacco Control
Researchers found that images captured and held the viewers’ attention better than text. However, smokers who viewed cigarettes packs with graphic health warnings along with a corresponding text warning were more likely to correctly recall the message compared to those who viewed cigarettes packs with graphic health warnings alongside a text-based health warning with a somewhat different theme. The graphic health warning labels proposed by the FDA in 2009 vary in the degree that the message and text are congruent, or reinforce the same message. Researchers suggest that making them congruent could improve the warnings’ effectiveness and be useful in resisting legal challenges.- News Story: Pictorial warning labels on tobacco products could help improve communication of risk to smokers, Science Daily
New Reports
- Tobacco in America: Leaving the Vulnerable Behind, Action on Smoking and Health
Industry News
- Altria Group CEO touts ‘outstanding year’ for company, addresses company’s critics, Richmond Times- Dispatch
- Association Expands Focus on Local Tobacco Ordinances, CSP Daily News
- FDA begins modified-risk review of heat-not-burn cigarettes, Winston-Salem Journal
- BAT’s Glo Roll-Out in Japan Sets Up Three-Way War for Smokers, Bloomberg Markets
- Digital Coupons and Apps Stoke Store and Tobacco Brand Affinity, CSP Daily News
- 6 Insights Into Flavored Tobacco Products, CSP Daily News
- What Does The Future of Tobacco Look Like?, CSP Daily News
POS Policy in the Media
- America’s new tobacco crisis: The rich stopped smoking, the poor didn’t, Washington Post
- Phillip Morris International Asks for a Human Rights Evaluation, the Conclusion: Stop Producing and Marketing Your Products, Huffington Post
- Rotarians Hear Cortland Students Expose Big Tobacco, WXHC
- Adult Swim Creates New Branded Content Series for Truth, Broadcasting & Cable
- Fighting against tobacco, Juneau Empire
- Anti-tobacco advocates encourage American Canyon to reduce storefront advertising, Napa Valley Register
- Bills Fight Smoking by Keeping Pace with Tobacco Companies, Gotham Gazette
- Cigars & Tobacco Products Receive Protections of Iowa, HalfWheel
Labeling and Packaging
- Federal judge hears arguments on cigarette company’s marketing, The New Mexican
- Nature’s Cancer Sticks: How American Spirit Sold the World on ‘Natural’ Cigarettes, Bloomberg Businessweek
- Marlboro maker accused to using branded tins to sidestep plain packaging rules, The Guardian
Tobacco-Free Pharmacies and Healthy Retail
- How CVS Won By Not Selling Cigarettes, Advertising Age
- Wayne County may snuff pharmacy tobacco sales, Finger Lakes Times
- North Philly Shop Owner Helping Customers Make Healthy Choices, CBS Local
Flavored Tobacco Products
Contra Costa supervisors consider tobacco sales restrictions, Easy Bay Times - Flavored tobacco products target young people, African Americans, San Francisco Chronicle
- Tobacco Industry Lobbyists Descend on Oakland to Oppose Ban of Flavored Blunt Wrappers and Cigars, Easy Bay Express
- Orange adopts new tobacco regs, Greenfield Recorder
- Candy-Flavored Smokes, City’s New Target in War on Teen Smoking, CBS Philadelphia
- Don’t let tobacco industry lure N.Y. teens with ‘sweet treats,’ Poughkeepsie Journal
- Missoula kids targets with e-cigs, sweet tobacco flavors, The Missoulian
- 65 percent of Vermont adults believe flavored tobacco products should be illegal, Vermont Biz
Tobacco 21
- Aspen aims to be first in state to raise tobacco age, Aspen Public Radio
- Lincolnshire increases age requirement to buy cigarettes to 21, Daily Herald
- Chilmark Restricts Tobacco Sales to 21 and Over, Vineyard Gazette
- Tobacco 21 passes unanimously, Excelsior Springs Standard
- Maine Could Become Third State to Increase Tobacco Sales Age from 18 to 21, WABI
- Move to raise age for N.J. tobacco sales to 21 gains momentum again, com
- House bill would move legal smoking age up to 21 in Michigan, Detroit Free Press
Find more stories in last month’s News and Research Roundup.
Know of a story that we missed? Email us, and we’ll be sure to include it in next month’s roundup!
Last updated July 30, 2018
