Tobacco deals delivered straight to smokers: A look at tobacco brand coupons

Background: Coupons to reduce the price of cigarettes are a common industry sales technique and a staple of direct mail to consumers. Reports on cigarette promotional expenditures shows that spending on coupons, which may work to negate tobacco control efforts by offsetting the impact of excise taxes and making cigarettes more affordable, is growing. This presentation looks at types and frequency of coupons delivered to smokers and purposes and strategies behind them.

Methods: Results are based on review of tobacco industry documents on direct mail and coupons, and a content analysis of a convenience sample of over 530 unique pieces of direct mail (from 1992 – present) from the Trinkets and Trash (T&T) collection, an archive and surveillance system of historic and current tobacco promotional materials.

Results: Over 60% of direct mail pieces contained coupons, transmitting as many as four different coupons at a time. Almost 20% included a coupon for a free or bonus tobacco pack. Recent examples have included coupons for as much as $3.00 and $4.00 off a pack. Different receivers of the same piece of mail may receive different coupons, based on targeted marketing and previous direct mail response history. Coupons are coded, allowing the industry to track their use, and documents suggest their use both as an incentive to try new products and to keep consumers brand loyal.

Conclusions: Coupons are a potentially powerful and understudied tobacco promotional vehicle. Research is needed to study the impact of this type of promotion on smoking and quitting behavior.