Exposure to Tobacco Marketing in Bars Predicts Subsequent Use of Multiple Tobacco Products among Non
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Herrera
AL, Pasch KE, Marti CN, et al
Exposure to Tobacco
Marketing in Bars Predicts Subsequent Use of Multiple Tobacco Products among
Non-tobacco-using College Students.
Tobacco Control 2020;29:631-637.
Background
Due to other marketing restrictions, one venue where tobacco companies
concentrate their marketing efforts to reach young adults is bars/nightclubs.
Objective
This study examined the relationship between exposure to tobacco marketing in
bars/nightclubs and number of alternative tobacco/nicotine products used
6 months later among college students.
Methods Participants
were 1,406 students aged 18–29 years old who reported going to bars or
nightclubs at least rarely (M age=21.95; 67% female; 46% non-Hispanic white).
Students completed an online survey in fall 2014/spring 2015 (wave 1) and again
6 months later (wave 2). Multilevel Poisson regression models were used to
assess the relationship between exposure to three types of marketing at
bars/nightclubs at wave 1 (tobacco/nicotine product advertisements; free
samples; industry representatives) and number of tobacco products used
(range=0–5) at wave 2, controlling for school type (2 year vs 4 year), age, sex,
race/ethnicity and frequency of bar visits. An interaction between the number
of wave 1 products and each marketing variable was tested.
Results Greater
exposure to free samples and tobacco industry representatives at
bars/nightclubs predicted a greater number of products used 6 months later, but
only among wave 1 non-tobacco users and not among tobacco users. Exposure to
advertisements at bars/nightclubs did not predict the number of products used
6 months later.
Conclusion
Tobacco companies claim that marketing is targeted to those who already use the
product, not to non-users. However, the current study indicates tobacco
marketing in bars and nightclubs may encourage use among non-users and has no
influence on current users.
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