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. 2019 Sep:96:100-109.
doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.04.024. Epub 2019 Apr 25.

Selling tobacco: A comprehensive analysis of the U.S. tobacco advertising landscape

Meghan Bridgid Moran  1 , Kathryn Heley  2 , Karen Baldwin  3 , Connie Xiao  3 , Victor Lin  3 , John P Pierce  4
Affiliations

Selling tobacco: A comprehensive analysis of the U.S. tobacco advertising landscape

Meghan Bridgid Moran et al. Addict Behav. 2019 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: To describe advertising tactics of cigarette, e-cigarette, little cigar/cigarillo and smokeless tobacco manufacturers.

Methods: We conducted a content analysis of tobacco 827 ads run in the US in 2016. Ads were double coded by trained coders across ten domains: promotions, web/social media presence, use cues, warnings and disclaimers, descriptors, claims, activities, setting, imagery, and themes.

Results: Cigarette ads relied on promotional tactics like discounts and sweepstakes and featured links to websites and mobile apps, all of which can increase brand loyalty and customer engagement. E-cigarette ads used tactics that appear to target new consumers, such as highlighting the product's qualities and modeling product use. Little cigar/cigarillo ads often positioned the product as social and featured music, urban and nightlife settings. Smokeless tobacco ads frequently featured themes, activities and settings stereotypically thought of as masculine.

Conclusions: The tactics used to advertise tobacco products can help generate new consumers, encourage product/brand switching, and escalate use among current users. Understanding how different products are advertised can inform the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory efforts, and tobacco counter-marketing campaigns.

Keywords: Advertising; Cigarettes; Cigars; Marketing; Smokeless tobacco; Tobacco.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Exemplar ads Ad images clockwise from upper left: 1. Marlboro cigarette ad featuring environmental theme, outdoor setting, sweepstakes; 2. Newport cigarette ad featuring discount, product and product pack, sociability theme; 3. Camel cigarette ad featuring sweepstakes, 4. Black & Mild filtered cigar ad featuring ‘smooth’ and ‘fresh’ descriptors, nightlife setting, music activity; 5. Swisher Sweets ad featuring a contest, 6. Copenhagen smokeless tobacco ad featuring manual labor, hunting (fishing), outdoors setting, high quality claim, masculinity and blue collar theme; 7. Grizzly ad referencing hunting (fishing), masculinity and blue collar theme; 8. Skoal smokeless tobacco ad with masculinity and blue collar theme; 9. VUSE e-cigarette ad featuring product, web link to learn about product 10.VUSE e-cigarette ad featuring product, new description, web link to learn about product; 11. NJOY ad implying product could help one quit smoking, featuring web link to learn about product.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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