Marketing Influences on Perceptions of Reduced Nicotine Content Cigarettes

Abstract

Introduction: The Food and Drug Administration announced intent to reduce the nicotine content in cigarettes. There is limited evidence on how reduced nicotine content cigarette (RNC) marketing affects product beliefs and use, and research on this is needed to inform regulations. Methods: In an online experiment, 426 young adult cigarette smokers (aged 18-30 years) were randomized in a 2 (implicit: red package vs. blue package) × 2 (explicit: corrective message vs. no corrective message) design to view an advertisement for previously commercially available RNCs. Outcomes were advertisement content recall, product beliefs, and use intentions. Participants' responses to open-ended assessment of their beliefs about the stimuli were coded to identify prevailing themes. Results: Red packaging and corrective messaging were independently associated with greater advertisement content recall (p =. 01 and p =. 04, respectively). There were no significant main or interaction effects on product beliefs or use intentions. Controlling for condition, advertisement content recall was significantly associated with less favorable product beliefs (p