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. 2017 Jul;26(4):421-427.
doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-052940. Epub 2016 Sep 5.

What is the impact of e-cigarette adverts on children's perceptions of tobacco smoking? An experimental study

D C Petrescu  1 , M Vasiljevic  1 , J K Pepper  2   3 , K M Ribisl  2   4 , T M Marteau  1
Affiliations

What is the impact of e-cigarette adverts on children's perceptions of tobacco smoking? An experimental study

D C Petrescu et al. Tob Control. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: Exposure to e-cigarette adverts increases children's positive attitudes towards using them. Given the similarity in appearance between e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes, we examined whether exposure to e-cigarette adverts has a cross-product impact on perceptions and attitudes towards smoking tobacco cigarettes.

Methods: Children aged 11-16 (n=564) were interviewed in their homes and randomised to one of three groups: two groups saw different sets of 10 images of e-cigarette adverts and one group saw no adverts. Of the 20 e-cigarette adverts, 10 depicted the product as glamorous and 10 depicted it as healthy. The children then self-completed a questionnaire assessing perceived appeal, harms and benefits of smoking tobacco cigarettes.

Results: The analyses were conducted on 411 children who reported never having smoked tobacco cigarettes or used e-cigarettes. Exposure to the adverts had no impact on the appeal or perceived benefits of smoking tobacco cigarettes. While the perceived harm of smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day was similar across groups, those exposed to either set of adverts perceived the harms of smoking one or two tobacco cigarettes occasionally to be lower than those in the control group.

Conclusions: This study provides the first evidence that exposure to e-cigarette adverts might influence children's perceptions of smoking tobacco cigarettes, reducing their perceived harm of occasional smoking. These results suggest the potential for e-cigarette adverts to undermine tobacco control efforts by reducing a potential barrier (ie, beliefs about harm) to occasional smoking.

Keywords: Advertising and Promotion; Electronic nicotine delivery devices; Priority/special populations.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form and declare: DCP, MV, JKP and TMM have no competing interests to declare; KMR has a royalty interest in a store mapping and audit system owned by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but these systems were not used in this study. The system has been used in past and ongoing projects to identify retailers selling e-cigarettes and vape shops.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportions (%) of participants responding to each response option for each of the three items measuring perceived harm of smoking tobacco cigarettes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of meta-analysis of impact of exposure to e-cigarette adverts on the perception that occasional smoking of one or two cigarettes is not very dangerous.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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