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Smokers’ perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors

INTRODUCTION: Cigarette brand descriptors such as ‘light’ are banned in several countries and often replaced by alternative descriptors that continue to mislead smokers about the relative risk from those brands. The objective of this study was to evaluate perceptions from current brand descriptors w...

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Autores principales: Felicione, Nicholas J., Norton, Kaila J., Bansal-Travers, Maansi, Rees, Vaughan W., Cummings, K. Michael, O’Connor, Richard J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: European Publishing on behalf of the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP) 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7869751/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33575516
http://dx.doi.org/10.18332/tpc/131243
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author Felicione, Nicholas J.
Norton, Kaila J.
Bansal-Travers, Maansi
Rees, Vaughan W.
Cummings, K. Michael
O’Connor, Richard J.
author_facet Felicione, Nicholas J.
Norton, Kaila J.
Bansal-Travers, Maansi
Rees, Vaughan W.
Cummings, K. Michael
O’Connor, Richard J.
author_sort Felicione, Nicholas J.
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Cigarette brand descriptors such as ‘light’ are banned in several countries and often replaced by alternative descriptors that continue to mislead smokers about the relative risk from those brands. The objective of this study was to evaluate perceptions from current brand descriptors when presented independently of cigarette packaging. METHODS: Eighty-eight daily cigarette smokers attended semi-structured interviews at three US research laboratories in 2018–2019 to assess smokers’ perceptions of cigarette brand descriptors in four classes of brand features: prestige, connotation, taste, and color. Participants ranked descriptors within each brand feature on perceived harm, attractiveness, and appeal (willingness to try). Ranked perceptions were described using median rankings and percentages. Chi-squared was used to assess demographic effects on perceptions. Spearman’s correlation was used to assess the association between harm, attractiveness, and appeal rankings. RESULTS: Brand descriptors influenced perceptions of harm, attractiveness, and appeal within each brand feature. Smooth was perceived as the most attractive (42.5%) and appealing (33.0%) taste descriptor. Red was perceived as the most harmful (45.4%) and least appealing (22.7%) color descriptor. Perceptions of certain descriptors differed by demographic characteristics such as sex and age. Rankings of attractiveness and appeal were more strongly correlated (r=0.63) than rankings of harm and appeal (r=0.20, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Cigarette manufacturers replaced banned descriptors with alternative descriptors that continue to influence perceptions of cigarettes. Regulatory agencies should closely evaluate all brand descriptors and consider implications for alternative products with fewer regulations.
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spelling pubmed-78697512021-02-10 Smokers’ perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors Felicione, Nicholas J. Norton, Kaila J. Bansal-Travers, Maansi Rees, Vaughan W. Cummings, K. Michael O’Connor, Richard J. Tob Prev Cessat Research Paper INTRODUCTION: Cigarette brand descriptors such as ‘light’ are banned in several countries and often replaced by alternative descriptors that continue to mislead smokers about the relative risk from those brands. The objective of this study was to evaluate perceptions from current brand descriptors when presented independently of cigarette packaging. METHODS: Eighty-eight daily cigarette smokers attended semi-structured interviews at three US research laboratories in 2018–2019 to assess smokers’ perceptions of cigarette brand descriptors in four classes of brand features: prestige, connotation, taste, and color. Participants ranked descriptors within each brand feature on perceived harm, attractiveness, and appeal (willingness to try). Ranked perceptions were described using median rankings and percentages. Chi-squared was used to assess demographic effects on perceptions. Spearman’s correlation was used to assess the association between harm, attractiveness, and appeal rankings. RESULTS: Brand descriptors influenced perceptions of harm, attractiveness, and appeal within each brand feature. Smooth was perceived as the most attractive (42.5%) and appealing (33.0%) taste descriptor. Red was perceived as the most harmful (45.4%) and least appealing (22.7%) color descriptor. Perceptions of certain descriptors differed by demographic characteristics such as sex and age. Rankings of attractiveness and appeal were more strongly correlated (r=0.63) than rankings of harm and appeal (r=0.20, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Cigarette manufacturers replaced banned descriptors with alternative descriptors that continue to influence perceptions of cigarettes. Regulatory agencies should closely evaluate all brand descriptors and consider implications for alternative products with fewer regulations. European Publishing on behalf of the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP) 2021-02-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7869751/ /pubmed/33575516 http://dx.doi.org/10.18332/tpc/131243 Text en © 2021 Felicione N. J. et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
spellingShingle Research Paper
Felicione, Nicholas J.
Norton, Kaila J.
Bansal-Travers, Maansi
Rees, Vaughan W.
Cummings, K. Michael
O’Connor, Richard J.
Smokers’ perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors
title Smokers’ perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors
title_full Smokers’ perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors
title_fullStr Smokers’ perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors
title_full_unstemmed Smokers’ perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors
title_short Smokers’ perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors
title_sort smokers’ perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors
topic Research Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7869751/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33575516
http://dx.doi.org/10.18332/tpc/131243
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