In recent years, the popularity of flavored electronic cigarettes among young people has become increasingly concerning. Many campaigns have been launched to reduce the appeal of these products, including banning non-tobacco flavors. However, these campaigns often overlook adult smokers who are trying to quit and are using these flavored products, including e-cigarettes, as a less toxic alternative to nicotine. Researchers from the University of Minnesota are now exploring whether changing the packaging of e-cigarettes could reduce youth interest in them.
A study published in "Nicotine and Tobacco Research" aimed to determine whether removing flavor images and colors from packaging of e-cigarettes would reduce the product's appeal to high school students. Researchers asked 176 young people to review different types of e-cigarette packaging and answer questions measuring their risk perception, novelty perception, susceptibility, and behavioral intent.
A research study has found that:
According to the perceptions of participants in the study, there were no differences in risk perception. However, those who viewed fruit-flavored e-cigarette products with flavor color and flavor images had the highest novelty appeal (i.e. how interesting or fun the product was) and sensitivity to e-cigarettes. Participants who viewed fruit-flavored e-cigarette products with flavor color and flavor images reported higher novelty appeal and sensitivity than those who viewed fruit-flavored e-cigarette products without flavor color and flavor images. The absence of flavor color and flavor images reduced the appeal of fruit-flavored e-cigarette products among young people. Adolescents who reported lower risk perception and higher susceptibility to e-cigarettes were more likely to engage in e-cigarette use in the coming year.
It is crucial to develop regulatory and public health strategies to reduce the appeal of electronic cigarettes to young people," said Sherri Jean Katz, assistant professor at the Department of Communication and Journalism at the College of Letters and Science, and an expert in health communication. "This research shows that we can reduce young people's interest in these products by changing the packaging.
Future research should test how the presentation of flavors affects adult smokers, to determine if removing colorful packaging and images of fruit flavors impacts their perception of these products and whether they still view them as a substitute for cigarettes. Additionally, more research is needed to test how marketing restrictions on e-cigarette products can adapt to a larger regulatory environment.
The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the FDA Center for Tobacco Products. The National Institutes of Health also utilized the shared resources of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core of the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota and was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the Food and Drug Administration.
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