Restricting Tobacco Poster Advertising Space at Retail Point of Sale Reduces Some Young Adults' Susceptibility to Future Cigarette Smoking.

Abstract

Objectives: Posters that advertise tobacco products in point-of-sale (POS) retail environments have a significant influence on youth smoking risk. This study experimentally examined how restricting poster coverage space in a retail POS setting affects young adults' future susceptibility to cigarette smoking.

Methods: Young adult participants (N = 288) shopped in the RAND StoreLab (RSL), a life-sized replica of a convenience store, under one of two experimental conditions: 1) high coverage poster space (the status quo, featuring 16 tobacco posters displayed as usual), and 2) low coverage poster space, which halved the number of displayed posters. After shopping in the RSL, participants completed measures assessing their susceptibility to future smoking. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the effect of experimental condition on the likelihood of future smoking susceptibility.

Results: Restricting poster coverage at POS was associated with a significant reduction in future susceptibility to cigarette smoking (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.05-0.90, p = .035) among young adults with high past month breadth of exposure to cigarette advertising in the past month. Restricting poster coverage did not have an impact on young adults with low levels of past month breadth of cigarette advertising exposure.

Conclusions: Reducing poster space at POS can effectively influence certain segments of the young adult population. These results suggest that policies aimed at decreasing smoking advertisements in retail environments may help reduce smoking intentions among young adults.