Anti-smoking ads at the point-of-sale: The influence of ad type and context on ad reactions

Background

Local jurisdictions have attempted to educate consumers about the dangers of smoking by posting anti-smoking messages at the point-of-sale but little is known on how the pro-tobacco retail context (inside or outside the store) may potentially mitigate or amplify the effect of different types of anti-smoking messages.

Methods

A national convenience sample of 7,812 adult current smokers and recent quitters were randomized to 1 of 36 ad conditions. Participants viewed 1 of 3 types of anti-smoking ads (graphic, emotional, benefits of quitting) in 1 of 3 contexts (alone, next to a cigarette ad, on a tobacco product display). We evaluated participants’ reactions to the ads (message recall, perceived effectiveness, negative emotion, motivational reaction, affective dissonance) by ad type and context.

Results

When ignoring context, graphic ads garnered the highest perceived effectiveness and affective dissonance scores among current smokers and recent quitters. Similarly, ads highlighting the benefits of quitting performed better than graphic or emotional ads on the motivational reaction scale among both groups. Graphic ads fared best at generating negative emotions among current smokers while emotional ads scored highest among recent quitters. Message recall did not differ by ad type or context among current smokers. However, recent quitters exhibited significantly higher message recall after seeing emotional ads than the other ad types, regardless of context.

Conclusions

These results suggest that adult consumers may be more receptive to graphic print cessation ads at the point-of-sale. Potential policy implications for placing anti-smoking ads at the point of sale will be discussed.