IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v63y2006i8p1973-1985.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Taking ad-Vantage of lax advertising regulation in the USA and Canada: Reassuring and distracting health-concerned smokers

Author

Listed:
  • Anderson, Stacey J.
  • Pollay, Richard W.
  • Ling, Pamela M.

Abstract

We explored the evolution from cigarette product attributes to psychosocial needs in advertising campaigns for low-tar cigarettes. Analysis of previously secret tobacco industry documents and print advertising images indicated that low-tar brands targeted smokers who were concerned about their health with advertising images intended to distract them from the health hazards of smoking. Advertising first emphasized product characteristics (filtration, low tar) that implied health benefits. Over time, advertising emphasis shifted to salient psychosocial needs of the target markets. A case study of Vantage cigarettes in the USA and Canada showed that advertising presented images of intelligent, upward-striving people who had achieved personal success and intentionally excluded the act of smoking from the imagery, while minimal product information was provided. This illustrates one strategy to appeal to concerned smokers by not describing the product itself (which may remind smokers of the problems associated with smoking), but instead using evocative imagery to distract smokers from these problems. Current advertising for potential reduced-exposure products (PREPs) emphasizes product characteristics, but these products have not delivered on the promise of a healthier alternative cigarette. Our results suggest that the tobacco control community should be on the alert for a shift in advertising focus for PREPs to the image of the user rather than the cigarette. Global Framework Convention on Tobacco Control-style advertising bans that prohibit all user imagery in tobacco advertising could preempt a psychosocial needs-based advertising strategy for PREPs and maintain public attention on the health hazards of smoking.

Suggested Citation

  • Anderson, Stacey J. & Pollay, Richard W. & Ling, Pamela M., 2006. "Taking ad-Vantage of lax advertising regulation in the USA and Canada: Reassuring and distracting health-concerned smokers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 1973-1985, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:8:p:1973-1985
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(06)00262-0
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Balbach, E.D. & Gasior, R.J. & Barbeau, E.M., 2003. "R.J. Reynolds' Targeting of African Americans: 1988-2000," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(5), pages 822-827.
    2. Anderson, Stacey J. & Dunn, Stephen P., 2006. "Galbraith and the Management of Specific Demand: evidence from the tobacco industry," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 273-296, December.
    3. Smith, E.A. & Malone, R.E., 2003. "The Outing of Philip Morris: Advertising Tobacco to Gay Men," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(6), pages 988-993.
    4. Ling, P M & Glantz, Stanton A. Ph.D., 2005. "Tobacco industry consumer research on socially acceptable cigarettes," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt0554n98z, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    5. Ling, P.M. & Glantz, S.A., 2002. "Why and how the tobacco industry sells cigarettes to young adults: Evidence from industry documents," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(6), pages 908-916.
    6. Ling, P M & Glantz, S A, 2004. "Tobacco industry research on smoking cessation - Recapturing young adults and other recent quitters," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt2t823095, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    7. Hafez, N & Ling, P M, 2005. "How Philip Morris built Marlboro into a global brand for young adults: implications for international tobacco control," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt5tp828kn, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    8. Bitton, Asaf & Neuman, Mark D. & Glantz, Stanton A. Ph.D., 2002. "Tobacco Industry Attempts to Subvert European Union Tobacco Advertising Legislation," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt3r1334mz, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nhung Nguyen & Louisa M. Holmes & Minji Kim & Pamela M. Ling, 2020. "Using Peer Crowd Affiliation to Address Dual Use of Cigarettes and E-Cigarettes among San Francisco Bay Area Young Adults: A Cross Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-13, October.
    2. Dorie E Apollonio & Lauren M Dutra & Stanton A Glantz, 2021. "Associations between smoking trajectories, smoke-free laws and cigarette taxes in a longitudinal sample of youth and young adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(2), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Katherine Clegg Smith & K. Welding & C. Kleb & C. Washington & J. Cohen, 2018. "English on cigarette packs from six non-Anglophone low- and middle-income countries," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(9), pages 1071-1079, December.
    4. Tobias C. Vogt & Alyson A. van Raalte & Pavel Grigoriev & Mikko Myrskylä, 2016. "German East-West mortality difference: two cross-overs driven by smoking," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2016-004, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    5. Scott L. Tomar & Brion J. Fox & Herbert H. Severson, 2008. "Is Smokeless Tobacco Use an Appropriate Public Health Strategy for Reducing Societal Harm from Cigarette Smoking?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Bo Yang & Jiaying Liu & Lucy Popova, 2018. "Targeted Versus Nontargeted Communication About Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems in Three Smoker Groups," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-18, September.
    7. Christina Czart Ciecierski & Pinka Chatterji & Frank J. Chaloupka & Henry Wechsler, 2011. "Do state expenditures on tobacco control programs decrease use of tobacco products among college students?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(3), pages 253-272, March.
    8. Joan Hanafin & Luke Clancy, 2020. "A qualitative study of e-cigarette use among young people in Ireland: Incentives, disincentives, and putative cessation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, December.
    9. Ling, P M & Glantz, S A, 2004. "Tobacco industry research on smoking cessation - Recapturing young adults and other recent quitters," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt2t823095, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    10. Page D. Dobbs & Jason B. Colditz & Shelby Shields & Anna Meadows & Brian A. Primack, 2022. "Policy and Behavior: Comparisons between Twitter Discussions about the US Tobacco 21 Law and Other Age-Related Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-10, February.
    11. Joseph G. L. Lee & Adam O. Goldstein & Leah M. Ranney & Jeff Crist & Anna McCullough, 2011. "High Tobacco Use among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations in West Virginian Bars and Community Festivals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-12, July.
    12. Ana M. Aranda & Tal Simons, 2023. "Clearing the Smoke: Regulations, Moral Legitimacy, and Performance in the U.S. Tobacco Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(4), pages 803-819, November.
    13. Borja García & Henk Erik Meier, 2017. "Global Sport Power Europe? The Efficacy of the European Union in Global Sport Regulation," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 850-870, July.
    14. Madeleine Steinmetz-Wood & Thierry Gagné & Marie-Pierre Sylvestre & Katherine Frohlich, 2018. "Do social characteristics influence smoking uptake and cessation during young adulthood?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(1), pages 115-123, January.
    15. Weishaar, Heide & Amos, Amanda & Collin, Jeff, 2015. "Best of enemies: Using social network analysis to explore a policy network in European smoke-free policy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 85-92.
    16. Erin J. Miller Lo & William J. Young & Ollie Ganz & Eugene M. Talbot & Richard J. O’Connor & Cristine D. Delnevo, 2022. "Trends in Overall and Menthol Market Shares of Leading Cigarette Brands in the USA: 2014–2019," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-11, February.
    17. Patricia A McDaniel & E Anne Lown & Ruth E Malone, 2017. "“It doesn’t seem to make sense for a company that sells cigarettes to help smokers stop using them”: A case study of Philip Morris’s involvement in smoking cessation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-22, August.
    18. Karin A. Kasza & Andrew J. Hyland & Abraham Brown & Mohammad Siahpush & Hua-Hie Yong & Ann D. McNeill & Lin Li & K. Michael Cummings, 2011. "The Effectiveness of Tobacco Marketing Regulations on Reducing Smokers’ Exposure to Advertising and Promotion: Findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-20, January.
    19. Evans-Polce, Rebecca J. & Castaldelli-Maia, Joao M. & Schomerus, Georg & Evans-Lacko, Sara E., 2015. "The downside of tobacco control? Smoking and self-stigma: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 26-34.
    20. Scott, Kristin A. & Mason, Marlys J. & Mason, James D., 2015. "I'm not a smoker: Constructing protected prototypes for risk behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2198-2206.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:8:p:1973-1985. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.