Youth and young adult flavour expectancies for new ‘non-menthol’ cigarettes introduced following California’s ban on flavoured tobacco products

Abstract

Background Following California’s statewide law prohibiting the sale of flavoured tobacco products, some cigarette brands introduced new variants advertised as non-menthol, yet featuring design and text commonly found in menthol cigarette marketing. Methods Data are from the February–May 2023 wave of the Tobacco Epidemic Evaluation Network (TEEN+) national probability-based survey (aged 13–25 years). Respondents (N=10 217) were shown images of two (of four) ‘new non-menthol’ brand ads or packaging and two comparators (‘classic’ non-menthol and menthol cigarette brands). Respondents reported expected taste of each (no or any minty/menthol taste; ‘don’t know’). Multinomial regression models tested associations between predictors (age, gender identity, race and ethnicity, perceived financial situation, smoking status) and expectation of minty/menthol taste. Results Younger age was associated with expectations of minty/menthol taste, controlling for covariates. Respondents aged 13–17 years had greater odds of expecting minty/menthol taste than no minty/menthol taste for all tested new non-menthol brands (Camel Crush Oasis adjusted OR (aOR): 1.30, p<0.05; Camel Crisp aOR: 1.47, p<0.001; Kool Non-Menthol Blue aOR: 1.27, p<0.05; Kool Non-Menthol Green aOR: 1.43, p<0.01), compared to respondents aged 21 and older. Respondents aged 18–20 years had greater odds of reporting minty/menthol expectancies than no minty/menthol expectancies for Camel Crush Oasis (aOR: 1.35, p<0.05) and Kool Non-Menthol Green (aOR: 1.29, p<0.05) compared to those aged 21–25 years. Compared to non-Hispanic white respondents, non-Hispanic Asian respondents had greater odds of expecting minty/menthol taste than no minty/menthol taste for Camel Crush Oasis (aOR: 1.89, p<0.01), Kool Non-Menthol Blue (aOR: 1.88, p<0.01) and Kool Non-Menthol Green (aOR: 1.72, p<0.05). Discussion Younger age was associated with expectations of new non-menthol cigarettes having a minty/menthol taste. Results raise concerns regarding the potential appeal of these products to youth and young adults. No data are available.