Grant Details
Grant Number: |
5R01CA239192-02 Interpret this number |
Primary Investigator: |
Sutfin, Erin |
Organization: |
Wake Forest University Health Sciences |
Project Title: |
Evaluating the Impact of Waterpipe Tobacco Marketing Claims on Young Adults |
Fiscal Year: |
2020 |
Abstract
Project Summary
Waterpipe tobacco (WT) smoking in the U.S. is common among young adults, with approximately 5.5 million
current users. WT smoking is associated with many of the same health risks as cigarette smoking, but
consumers often erroneously believe WT smoking is less harmful and less addictive than cigarette smoking.
Marketing, including package design and digital marketing (websites and social media), is an effective tool
used by the tobacco industry to communicate product health information to consumers. The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has begun to prohibit certain claims on WT packaging and in marketing. Under Section
911 of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, manufacturers and retailers are prohibited
from making unauthorized modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) claims, including statements that the product
or its smoke: (1) results in reduced harm; (2) contains a reduced level of or presents a reduced exposure to a
substance; (3) does not contain or is free of a substance; and (4) statements that use modified risk descriptors
such as light, mild, low, or similar descriptors. In addition, manufacturers and retailers are also prohibited from
making false and misleading claims on packaging and in marketing under Section 903. Some prohibited claims
are easily identifiable, but others are more difficult to identify due to lack of specificity in the law and the implicit
nature of some claims. Evidence is needed, specific to WT packaging and marketing, to identify claims and
determine their influence on consumer harm misperceptions to inform future regulatory actions. The proposed
study will address this gap by documenting claims on WT packaging and in digital marketing (websites and
social media) and how such claims influence consumer perceptions and willingness to try WT. In Aim 1, we
will identify WT product packaging and digital marketing through a comprehensive website review to identify
manufacturers (who make WT) and retailers (who sell WT for onsite use, such as cafés and lounges). We will
create a sampling frame of WT brands and flavors and will randomly select five flavors from 30 brand to
purchase packaging. For digital marketing, we will use the same 30 brands of WT manufacturers and a
random sample of 30 retailers with websites and social media accounts. We will capture all website content
and 20 of the most recent posts from Facebook and Instagram, the two most popular social media platforms
among young adults. In Aim 2, we will content analyze all of the packaging and digital marketing captured in
Aim 1. We will then use an expert panel to determine whether claims found on packaging and in digital
marketing are examples of prohibited claims. In Aim 3, we will conduct a randomized, online experiment with a
nationally-representative sample of young adults to evaluate the impact of prohibited claims present on WT
packaging and in digital media on young adults' willingness to try the product, perceptions of harm, and
product appeal. The findings will help the FDA determine which claims consumers interpret in ways that the
law prohibits; which could prompt the FDA to engage in additional rulemaking so consumers are not misled.
Publications
None