Tobacco messages encountered in real-time among low socio-economic position groups: a descriptive study

BMC Public Health

Monisha Arya¹  Xiaoyan Li²  Nathaniel D. Osgood²  Elise M. Stevens³  Coralia Vázquez-Otero⁴  Sara Minsky⁵  Kasisomayajula Viswanath⁵  Donna Vallone⁶ 

[1] Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA;Department of Computer Science and Computational Epidemiology & Public Health Informatics Laboratory, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada;Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 368 Plantation Street, 01605, Worcester, MA, USA;Department of Public Health, College for Health, Community and Policy, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA;Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health & Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA;Truth Initiative Schroeder Institute, Washington, USA;College of Global Public Health, New York University, New York City, NY, USA;

关键词: Tobacco;    Advertising;    Health communication;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-021-12197-3

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTobacco advertising disproportionately targets low socio-economic position (SEP) groups, causing higher rates of tobacco use in this population. Anti-tobacco public health education campaigns persuade against use. This study measured real-time exposure of pro- and anti-tobacco messages from low SEP groups in two American cities.MethodsIndividuals in low SEP groups (N = 95), aged 18–34 years old, who were smokers and non-smokers, from the Boston and Houston areas, took part in a mobile health study. They submitted images of tobacco-related messages they encountered via a mobile application for a 7-week period. Two coders analyzed the images for message characteristics. Intercoder reliability was established using Krippendorff’s alpha and data were analyzed descriptively.ResultsOf the submitted images (N = 131), 83 were pro-tobacco and 53 were anti-tobacco. Of the pro-tobacco messages, the majority were cigarette ads (80.7%) seen outside (36.1%) or inside (30.1%) a convenience store or gas station and used conventional themes (e.g., price promotion; 53.2%). Of the anti-tobacco messages, 56.6% were sponsored by public health campaigns or were signage prohibiting smoking in a public area (39.6%). Most focused on the health harms of smoking (28.3%).ConclusionLow SEP groups in this study encountered more pro-tobacco than anti-tobacco messages at places that were point-of-sale using price promotions to appeal to this group. Anti-tobacco messages at point-of-sale and/or advertising regulations may help combat tobacco use.

【 授权许可】

CC BY