Marketing of menthol cigarettes and consumer perceptions: a review of tobacco industry documents
Marketing of menthol cigarettes and consumer perceptions: a review of tobacco industry documents
复制标题
DOI：
10.1136/tc.2010.041939
复制
发表时间：
2011-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.2
通讯作者：
Anderson, Stacey J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Anderson, Stacey J.
目的了解烟草业对薄荷卷烟的营销情况，了解烟草业对薄荷卷烟的认知。方法采用滚雪球抽样法，于2010年2月28日至4月27日系统检索烟草遗产文献库（LTDL） （http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu）。在LTDL中可获得的大约1100万份文件中，反复搜索返回了来自美国主要烟草公司及其附属组织的数万个结果。从20世纪30年代至21世纪头十年收集的953份文件，对其中一个或多个研究问题进行了定性分析，结果如下：(1)薄荷香烟是否/是否在销售时带有健康保证信息？(2)薄荷香烟广告还传递了哪些信息？(3)吸烟者如何看待薄荷香烟？(4)薄荷香烟是否向特定人群销售？结果薄荷香烟在市场上被宣传为比非薄荷香烟更健康，消费者也认为薄荷香烟更健康。薄荷卷烟也向特定的社会和人口群体销售，包括非洲裔美国人、年轻人和妇女，并被消费者视为社会群体的标志。烟草业知道消费者认为薄荷香烟比不含薄荷香烟更健康，这是其营销背后的意图。强调薄荷醇的营销吸引了那些可能不会养成经常吸烟习惯的消费者，包括年轻的、没有经验的吸烟者和那些不喜欢“普通”香烟的人。这种营销也可能吸引那些关心健康的吸烟者，否则他们可能会戒烟。
Objective To examine tobacco industry marketing of menthol cigarettes and to determine what the tobacco industry knew about consumer perceptions of menthol.Methods A snowball sampling design was used to systematically search the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL) (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu) between 28 February and 27 April 2010. Of the approximately 11 million documents available in the LTDL, the iterative searches returned tens of thousands of results from the major US tobacco companies and affiliated organisations. A collection of 953 documents from the 1930s to the first decade of the 21st century relevant to 1 or more of the research questions were qualitatively analysed, as follows: (1) are/were menthol cigarettes marketed with health reassurance messages? (2) What other messages come from menthol cigarette advertising? (3) How do smokers view menthol cigarettes? (4) Were menthol cigarettes marketed to specific populations?Results Menthol cigarettes were marketed as, and are perceived by consumers to be, healthier than non-menthol cigarettes. Menthol cigarettes are also marketed to specific social and demographic groups, including African-Americans, young people and women, and are perceived by consumers to signal social group belonging.Conclusions The tobacco industry knew consumers perceived menthol as healthier than non-menthol cigarettes, and this was the intent behind marketing. Marketing emphasising menthol attracts consumers who may not otherwise progress to regular smoking, including young, inexperienced users and those who find 'regular' cigarettes undesirable. Such marketing may also appeal to health-concerned smokers who might otherwise quit.