Countering E-cigarette Marketing in the Retail Environment among Adolescents and Young Adults

PROJECT SUMMARY/ ABSTRACT Despite significant efforts to limit youth from accessing and using electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), many adolescents and young adults are directly purchasing e-cigarettes from brick-and mortar retail stores. Studies show that pervasive e-cigarette marketing in the retail environment such as e-cigarette product displays, location/size of advertising, and price incentives and coupons, increase adolescent e-cigarette susceptibility and actual use. However, studies have not directly asked adolescents and young adults to identify appealing and influential characteristics of e-cigarette marketing in the retail environment that impact their e-cigarette purchase and use intentions. Such data will support the FDA’s aim of understanding marketing influences on youth tobacco use and will inform the development of communications to prevent e-cigarette use through a counter-marketing lesson, addressing appealing e-cigarette marketing characteristics in the retail environment. The proposed project will address three Specific Aims towards the development of a counter-marketing lesson and regulatory solutions: (1) Examine adolescents’ and young adults’ descriptions of e-cigarette marketing in the retail environment and its influence on their e-cigarette purchase and use behavior. (2) Identify the most important, appealing characteristics intrinsic to e-cigarette marketing in the retail environment influencing adolescents’ and young adults’ intentions to purchase and use e-cigarettes. (3) AIM 3. Develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an e-cigarette counter-marketing lesson combating marketing in the retail environment to reduce intent to use and actual use of e-cigarettes among adolescents. In the K99 phase, focus group discussions (Aim 1) and surveys including an embedded discrete-choice experiment (Aim 2) will identify how and which e-cigarette marketing characteristics influence adolescent and young adult e-cigarette purchase and use. Aims 1 and 2 will identify which characteristics require counter-marketing and would benefit from strengthened regulation. In the R00 phase, a randomized controlled trial will randomly assign adolescents-only to one of two conditions: 1) an online counter-marketing lesson about e-cigarette marketing in the retail environment (developed in this phase) or 2) an existing online e-cigarette overview lesson to assess influence on adolescents' intent to use and actual use of e-cigarettes (Aim 3). This Award and proposed research will enable the PI to grow expertise in impactful e-cigarette prevention programs and policy solutions to reduce adolescent tobacco use, a long-term goal. A training plan involving mentorship from multidisciplinary tobacco control experts in tobacco prevention, marketing, policy, survey design, statistical methods and counter- marketing design, and complementary didactic training will fill gaps in knowledge of tobacco regulatory science and vital research skills, allowing the PI to transition to an independent investigator. By utilizing preliminary data and leveraging new skills, the PI will submit a R01 grant that will examine a multi-component intervention to combat marketing, which will substantially reduce adolescents’ and young adults’ e-cigarette use.