Grant Number:	5R21CA232054-02 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Sargent, James
Organization:	Dartmouth College
Project Title:	Does Exposure to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Advertising Affect Positive Smoking Expectancies and Social Normative Beliefs Regarding Smoking?
Fiscal Year:	2019

We propose that exposure to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) advertising encourages adolescent smoking by a) modifying adolescents’ expectancies about smoking cigarettes, and b) by changing the way they respond to media smoking cues. The causal link between combustible tobacco marketing and smoking initiation has prompted restrictions to reduce youth smoking. These restrictions do not apply for ENDS products. ENDS advertising has proliferated in the media – especially on TV - and ENDS ads use the same advertising themes that tobacco companies used to market combustible cigarettes to adolescents. ENDS ads mainly promote vaping with cigarette-like products that mimic combustible cigarette actions, leading to the possible transference of altered attitudes and attention from ENDS products to smoking. Our overall hypothesis is that ENDS advertising promotes cigarette smoking by generalizing as a media smoking cue to a) facilitate the transference of positive expectancies about ENDS use conveyed by ENDS ads into positive expectances about cigarette use, and b) to increase positive smoking expectancies about cigarette use by priming adolescents to give more attention to media smoking cues. This work has the potential to contribute to the scientific premise for ENDS marketing restrictions by the FDA.





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