Project 3: Nicotine Product Claims on Appeal, Perceptions, and Use Behavior

SUMMARY – PROJECT 3 Oral nicotine pouches (ONPs) emerged in the U.S. in 2016, ONP brands rapidly proliferated, and sales are skyrocketing. ONPs are representative of a shift by the tobacco industry to marketing non-tobacco nicotine products as alternatives to cigarettes, smokeless tobacco (ST), and even e-cigarettes (ECs). Nicotine is the driver of use and dependence, and the industry continuously manipulates nicotine dimensions to maximize appeal to consumers. Packaging is a primary marketing vehicle to increase product appeal, and ONP packaging prominently emphasizes nicotine concentration (e.g., 3 mg, 6 mg) and source claims (e.g., “tobacco free”) as a marketing tool. Understanding how these packaging features communicating nicotine dimensions affect the appeal of ONPs in young adult non-users versus adult tobacco users is critical to inform regulations for ONPs and other nicotine products using similar marketing. Project 3 of the Ohio State University Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (OSU-TCORS) will examine how nicotine concentration and source claims on ONP packaging affect the appeal of ONPs and how these features affect preferences for ONPs relative to ECs, cigarettes, ST, and other products in young non-tobacco users versus adult tobacco users. The Specific Aims are to: 1) Examine the effects of nicotine concentration and source claims on visual and cognitive engagement with ONP packaging using laboratory-based psychophysiological assessment. 2) Examine the effects of nicotine concentration and source claims on ONP perceptions, behavioral intentions, and ONP trial. 3) Investigate the effects of nicotine concentration and source claims on ONP preferences relative to ECs, cigarettes, ST, and other tobacco products. Project 3 includes 2 complementary studies to accomplish these aims. Study 1 (Aims 1 and 2) is a 2 (young adult susceptible non-user, adult tobacco user) x 3 (labelled nicotine concentration: none, low, high) x 3 (source claim: none, “tobacco free,” “synthetic”) human laboratory experiment to examine how nicotine concentration and source claims affect engagement with ONP packaging using psychophysiological measures, ONP appeal, risk perceptions and use intentions, and a behavioral lapse task assessing ONP trial. Study 2 (Aim 3) is a discrete choice experiment with a national sample of young adult susceptible non-users and adult tobacco users to assess the effects of nicotine concentration and source claims on ONP preferences relative to ECs, cigarettes, ST, and other products. Project 3 addresses the Marketing Influences and Behavior FDA tobacco regulatory science domains. Project 3 is significant and innovative because it will be one of the first studies to generate evidence to inform potential regulation of packaging features communicating nicotine concentration and nicotine source claims based on their differential effects in young adult non-users versus adult tobacco users. Together with Projects 1, 2, and 4, the OSU-TCORS will provide evidence to guide an overall regulatory strategy targeting nicotine dimensions for ONPs, ECs, and other novel products.