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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

John P. Pierce, PhD, Division of Population Sciences, Moores UCSD Cancer Center, 3855 Health Sciences Drive, Room 3063, La Jolla, CA 92093-0901, 858-822-2380, jppierce@ucsd.edu

Over the past 16 years, there have been a number of natural experiments related to the marketing either to encourage or discourage smoking behavior. Tobacco industry marketing of cigarettes has a long history, but it was not until 1991 that studies began to show the strength of this influence in building demand for smoking. Evidence has accumulated demonstrating the independent effectiveness of each of the four main marketing categories on cigarette demand. These categories are: (a) product presentation, (b) unit price, (c) promotion, and (d) placement. Public health action to limit tobacco industry marketing has been associated with a decline in demand. Following evidence from research studies on the effectiveness of social marketing, statewide tobacco control programs were introduced in the US in the late 1980s. There are three major types of statewide tobacco control programs with evaluations that include peer review publications: California focused on a population-wide strategy to change social norms and included the early introduction of smokefree workplaces; Massachusetts emphasized quitting more than California; and Florida's program was aimed only at reducing adolescent smoking. All three well-evaluated programs in the U.S. were associated with a reduction in smoking behavior including adolescent smoking initiation. Both California and Florida programs were associated with an approximate halving of smoking among teens even though they were very differently structured. This suggests that there are no “magic bullets” in tobacco control and that very different strategies may be associated with similar levels of social norm change towards smokefree societies.

Learning Objectives:

• See session abstract

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation