Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Dec 5:9:100149.
doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2018.100149. eCollection 2019 Jun.

Disparities in retail marketing for little cigars and cigarillos in Los Angeles, California

Sabrina L Smiley  1 , Natalie Kintz  1 , Yaneth L Rodriguez  1 , Rosa Barahona  1 , Steve Sussman  1 , Tess Boley Cruz  1 , Chih-Ping Chou  1 , Mary Ann Pentz  1 , Jonathan M Samet  2 , Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati  1
Affiliations

Disparities in retail marketing for little cigars and cigarillos in Los Angeles, California

Sabrina L Smiley et al. Addict Behav Rep. .

Abstract

Introduction: Evidence of a concentration of cigarette advertising in predominantly low-income, non-White neighborhoods underscores the need to examine retail marketing and promotions for novel tobacco products like little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs). We sought to investigate neighborhood racial/ethnic disparities in LCC marketing at retail, including availability, advertising, price promotions, and product placement in Los Angeles, California.

Methods: Between January 2016 and April 2017, community health workers (n = 19) conducted in-person observational audits from tobacco retail stores (n = 679) located in zip codes with a high percentage of non-Hispanic White (n = 196), Black (n = 194), Hispanic/Latino (n = 189), or Korean American (n = 100) residents. To account for clustering effect of zip codes, multilevel modeling approach for a dichotomized outcome was conducted to evaluate the association between racial/ethnic neighborhood sample and dependent variables.

Results: Stores located in zip codes with a high percentage of non-Hispanic Blacks had more than eight times higher odds of selling LCCs (OR = 8.10; 95% CI = 3.10-21.11 vs. non-Hispanic White), more than five times higher odds of selling flavored LCCs (OR = 5.20; 95% CI = 2.33-11.61 vs. non-Hispanic White), and more than six times higher odds of displaying storefront exterior LCC signage (OR = 6.03; 95% CI = 2.93-12.40 vs. non-Hispanic White). Stores in Hispanic/Latino and Korean American communities had about three times higher odds of selling LCCs (OR = 3.02; 95% CI = 1.15-7.93 vs. non-Hispanic White; OR = 2.99; 95% CI = 1.33-6.71 vs. non-Hispanic White).

Conclusions: LCCs are heavily marketed in retail establishments in Los Angeles, with disproportionate targeting of predominantly non-White neighborhoods, especially stores in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of African Americans. Local, state, and federal flavor restrictions, minimum pack size standards, preventive messages, and campaigns could counter the influence of LCC marketing in retail establishments.

Keywords: Little cigars/cigarillos; Racial/ethnic neighborhoods; Retail marketing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Adler N.E., Newman K. Socioeconomic disparities in health: Pathways and policies. Health Affairs. 2002;21(2):60–76. - PubMed
    1. Agaku I.T., King B.A., Dube S.R. Current cigarette smoking among adults – United States, 2005–2012. MMWR. 2014;63(2):29–34. (ISSN: 1545-861X) - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arrazola R.A., Dube S.R., King B.A. Tobacco product use among middle and high school students — United States, 2011 and 2012. MMWR. 2013;62(45):893–897. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baezconde-Garbanati L., Cruz T.B., Sussman S., Unger J.B., Pentz M.A., Samet J.M. SAGE Research Methods Cases. 2017. Maximizing compliance with tobacco policy in vulnerable community retail environments: A multicultural case study in community-based participatory research.
    1. Baker F., Ainsworth S.R., Dye J.T. Health risks associated with cigar smoking. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2000;284(6):735–740. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources