The Impact of The Real Cost Vaping and Smoking Ads Across Tobacco Products.
Friday, March 17, 2023
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Kowitt
SD, Mendel Sheldon J, Vereen RN, Kurtzman RT, Gottfredson NC, Hall MG, Brewer
NT, Noar SM.
The Impact of The Real
Cost Vaping and Smoking Ads Across Tobacco Products.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2023 Feb 9;25(3):430-437. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntac206. PMID:
36006858; PMCID: PMC9910139.
Introduction. Little
research has examined the spillover effects of tobacco communication campaigns,
such as how anti-smoking ads affect vaping.
Aims and methods. Participants
were a national sample of 623 U.S. adolescents (ages 13-17 years) from a
probability-based panel. In a between-subjects experiment, we randomly assigned
adolescents to view one of four videos online: (1) a smoking prevention video
ad from the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) The Real Cost campaign, (2) a
neutral control video about smoking, (3) a vaping prevention video ad from The
Real Cost campaign, or (4) a neutral control video about vaping. We present
effect sizes as Cohen's d, standardized mean differences, with 95% confidence
intervals (CIs).
Results. Exposure
to The Real Cost vaping prevention ads led to more negative attitudes toward
vaping compared with control (d = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.53), while exposure to
The Real Cost smoking prevention ads did not affect smoking-related outcomes
compared with control (p-values > .05). Turning to spillover effects,
exposure to The Real Cost smoking prevention ads led to less susceptibility to
vaping (d = -0.34, 95% CI: -0.56, -0.12), more negative attitudes toward vaping
(d = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.20, 0.65) and higher perceived likelihood of harm from
vaping (d = 0.26, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.48), compared with control. Exposure to The
Real Cost vaping prevention ads did not affect smoking-related outcomes
compared with control (p-values > .05).
Conclusions. This
experiment found evidence of beneficial spillover effects of smoking prevention
ads on vaping outcomes and found no detrimental effects of vaping prevention
ads on smoking outcomes.
Implications. Little
research has examined the spillover effects of tobacco communication campaigns,
such as how anti-smoking ads affect vaping. Using a national sample of 623 U.S.
adolescents, we found beneficial evidence of spillover effects of smoking
prevention ads on vaping outcomes, which is promising since it suggests that
smoking prevention campaigns may have the additional benefit of reducing both
smoking and vaping among adolescents. Additionally, we found that vaping
prevention campaigns did not elicit unintended consequences on smoking-related
outcomes, an important finding given concerns that vaping prevention campaigns
could drive youth to increase or switch to using combustible cigarettes instead
of vaping.
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