Branding: could it hold the key to future tobacco reduction policy?

Abstract

The debate surrounding tobacco control has become increasingly polarised as the health and tobacco lobbies seek to influence tobacco policy. In recent times the main focus for debate has been the impact of tobacco advertising on under‐age smoking. However, with the proposed ban on tobacco advertising, this paper argues that branding may prove pivotal to re‐orienting thinking about how tobacco marketing continues to influence smoking initiation. Marketing theory asserts that creating demand for a product is dependent upon building a strong brand identity that concurs with the needs, values and lifestyles of the consumer. It is hypothesised that branding can function by affecting not only the way people perceive specific tobacco products but also their perceptions of smoking behaviour itself. Using branding to extend the debate in this way provides some useful insights into the role tobacco marketing might play in encouraging young people to start smoking. It is concluded that explanations for smoking initiation can be found, not by attempting to isolate the abilities of tobacco marketing and health policy to persuade young people to adopt one behaviour in favour of the other, but by examining how exposure to competing forces such as these during adolescence may conspire to brand smoking in a way that encourages young people to experiment with cigarettes. It is suggested that more significant advances in reducing smoking rates are likely to depend upon a willingness to confront the fundamental contradictions that are created by such competing forces.

Young Adults’ Interpretations of Tobacco Brands: Implications for Tobacco Control

“…Their responses align logically with behavior modification theory, which recognizes the importance of discriminative stimuli, such as brand elements, and the role these play in stimulating and rewarding behavior (Foxall, 1986;Nord and Peter, 1980). These findings are consistent with consumer behavior and brand association theories (Aaker, 1997;Eadie et al, 1999;Dewhirst and Davis, 2005;Keller, 1993). However, they are strikingly at odds with tobacco companies' claims that plain packaging would not reduce the appeal, attractiveness, or the uptake of smoking (British American Tobacco, 2010; Philip Morris, 2010;Philip Morris International, 2010).…”

A cross-sectional analysis of how young adults perceive tobacco brands: implications for FCTC signatories

“…Known as symbolic consumption, this process involves consumers forming relationships with brands, which they use to structure and create meaning in their lives [16]. As a result, tobacco manufacturers sell status, social acceptance, glamour and adventure, rather than simply a device to deliver nicotine [14,17,18]. Internal tobacco industry documents reflect a deep understanding of symbolic consumption and reveal meticulous research into pack designs, brand insignia, and the images consumers create using these [14,16,19-21].…”

Effects of dissuasive packaging on young adult smokers

“…However, brands comprise more than a series of signs or colours; they also possess symbolic meanings that marketers and consumers create jointly, to the extent that brands become relationship partners 4–6. This anthropomorphic status enables brands to develop, communicate and reinforce ideas, images and personalities; these attributes have particular significance in relatively homogeneous markets such as the tobacco market, where each market partition contains brands with similar functional properties 7 8. Cigarette companies create, promote and sell images that they communicate via branding, specifically brand livery, which includes colours, fonts, logos and images 9–11.…”