Monitoring of tobacco product marketing for rapid public health surveillance in the United States

Abstract

The US tobacco landscape is constantly changing, with the commercial tobacco industry regularly flooding the market with new brands, flavors, and styles. Rutgers Center for Rapid Surveillance of Tobacco (CRST) examines tobacco product marketing, the tobacco product marketplace, and tobacco use behaviors. This paper describes how findings from tobacco marketing surveillance are integrated with other data sources to provide timely and actionable information about changes in tobacco products to inform the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) regulatory efforts that reduce tobacco harms. CRST conducts regular surveillance of consumer-facing advertisements via print and online, business-to-business publications, direct-to-consumer marketing, branded tobacco company websites, and social media posts for over 50 brands. Information is disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed journals, public fact sheets, and weekly online newsletters to stakeholders. Geek Bar, an e-cigarette brand, illustrates how findings from CRST tobacco marketing surveillance are triangulated with data from other CRST activities to provide rapid information on an emerging brand. The presence of the brand was identified as a signal of interest in early sales data, whereafter surveillance of the brand's marketing activities showed frequent product releases and marketing targeting young people. This systematic tobacco marketing surveillance, when combined with other CRST activities, keeps regulators and the public health community informed in a constantly changing marketplace. CRST findings help to identify tobacco and nicotine products that pose the greatest threat to population health.