Dataset Information

Estimating demand for alternatives to cigarettes with online purchase tasks.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To explore how advertising affects demand for cigarettes and potential substitutes, including snus, dissolvable tobacco, and medicinal nicotine.

Methods

A Web-based experiment randomized 1062 smokers to see advertisements for alternative nicotine products or soft drinks, then complete a series of purchase tasks, which were used to estimate demand elasticity, peak consumption, and cross-price elasticity (CPE) for tobacco products.

Results

Lower demand elasticity and greater peak consumption were seen for cigarettes compared to all alternative products (p < .05). CPE did not differ across the alternative products (p ≤ .03). Seeing relevant advertisements was not significantly related to demand.

Conclusions

These findings suggest significantly lower demand for alternative nicotine sources among smokers than previously revealed.

SUBMITTER: O'Connor RJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3776309 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Estimating demand for alternatives to cigarettes with online purchase tasks.

O'Connor Richard J RJ June Kristie M KM Bansal-Travers Maansi M Rousu Matthew C MC Thrasher James F JF Hyland Andrew A Cummings K Michael KM

American journal of health behavior 20140101 1

<h4>Objectives</h4>To explore how advertising affects demand for cigarettes and potential substitutes, including snus, dissolvable tobacco, and medicinal nicotine.<h4>Methods</h4>A Web-based experiment randomized 1062 smokers to see advertisements for alternative nicotine products or soft drinks, then complete a series of purchase tasks, which were used to estimate demand elasticity, peak consumption, and cross-price elasticity (CPE) for tobacco products.<h4>Results</h4>Lower demand elasticity a ...[more]

PMID: 24034685

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Project description:SignificanceThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering a very low nicotine content (VLNC) product standard to substantially reduce nicotine in cigarettes. We examined whether learning about a potential VLNC standard increased smokers' interest in illicit purchases of cigarettes with regular nicotine content if such a standard were adopted.MethodsParticipants were a national convenience sample of 1712 US adult smokers. In an online experiment, we randomly assigned smokers to view information about a new VLNC standard (experimental condition) or no information (control condition). The experimental condition explained that a VLNC standard would remove 95% of the nicotine in cigarettes and would require stores to only sell VLNC cigarettes. Then, the survey assessed smokers' interest in purchasing regular cigarettes from three illicit sources.ResultsSmokers who learned about the VLNC standard were more likely to be very or extremely interested in purchasing regular cigarettes illicitly from a Web site compared to smokers in the control group (24% vs. 16%, p < .001). They were also more interested in illicitly buying cigarettes from a street vendor (19% vs. 13%, p < .001) and a store on an Indian reservation (28% vs. 22%, p < .05), compared to the control. The impact of learning about the VLNC standard on interest in illicit purchases did not differ by smoking frequency or current e-cigarette use.ConclusionsA VLNC standard could increase smokers' interest in illicit purchases of regular nicotine cigarettes. To prevent VLNC-induced illicit trade from undermining public health, FDA should consider proven measures such as track and trace for these products.ImplicationsLittle is known about how a VLNC cigarette standard would affect consumer interest in regular content cigarettes purchased from illicit sources (eg, the Internet). We found that smokers informed about a potential VLNC product standard had greater interest in illicit cigarette purchases, compared to controls. This suggests the importance of proactive measures accompanying a VLNC standard, such as track-and-trace cigarette packaging regulations and communication campaigns, in order to maximize the standard's public health impact.

Dataset Information

Estimating demand for alternatives to cigarettes with online purchase tasks.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Estimating demand for alternatives to cigarettes with online purchase tasks.

Similar Datasets

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