The Effect of Point-of-Sale Tobacco Marketing on Smoking Cessation
The Effect of Point-of-Sale Tobacco Marketing on Smoking Cessation
Principal Investigator: Mohammad Siahpush
Funding Mechanism: National Institutes of Health- Grant
ID number: 1R01CA166156-01A1
Award Date: 3/7/2013
Institution: University of Nebraska Medical Center
Most tobacco industry marketing efforts occur at the point-of-sale (POS) (i.e., at retail stores where tobacco is sold), yet empirical studies on the effect of POS tobacco marketing on smoking cessation in the U.S. do not exist. Smokers who are exposed to a higher level of POS marketing may more frequently crave cigarettes, have the urge to buy cigarettes, make unplanned purchases of cigarettes, and believe that smoking is socially acceptable, all of which lower the chances of making a quit attempt and successfully quitting. This longitudinal study will investigate the effect of POS tobacco marketing on smoking behavior (i.e., making a quit attempt and quit success) in 971 adult smokers (aged 18 and older) in Omaha, Nebraska. Specifically, the study will investigate the following hypotheses: (1) smokers who are exposed to a higher amount of POS marketing are less likely to make a quit attempt; (2) the mechanism of the effect of POS marketing on making a quit attempt is through noticing POS marketing, which leads to craving, an urge to buy cigarettes, an unplanned purchase of cigarettes, and the perception that smoking is socially acceptable; (3) among smokers who have made a quit attempt, those who are exposed to a higher amount of POS marketing are less likely to successfully quit smoking; and (4) among smokers who have made a quit attempt, the mechanism of the effect of POS marketing on quit success is through the mechanism described above. Participants will be recruited through random telephone contact and will be interviewed at baseline and at six months. At baseline, participants will be surveyed about noticing POS marketing, craving to smoke, urge to buy cigarettes, unplanned purchase of cigarettes, and the perception of social acceptability of smoking; data on POS tobacco marketing will be collected from stores that sell tobacco in each participant's neighborhood. At six-month follow-up, investigators will assess participants’ quit attempts in the previous six months and quit success.