The Tobacco Industry: Marketing Strategies and Consumption

Barnett, Ross; Peng, Sihui; Jiang, Shuhan

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-76143-1_4

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…China, the country with the largest tobacco burden, is home to over 300 million people who smoke with over half of the male population currently using tobacco 1 . Despite efforts to curtail tobacco use 2 , the Chinese tobacco industry is still able to attract consumers through marketing tactics that can increase smoking susceptibility 3 , particularly efforts to attract populations where smoking has traditionally been less acceptable, including youth and women.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The problematic use of cultural symbols on Chinese cigarette packs

Xing,

Dai,

Madar

et al. 2023

Tob. Induc. Dis.

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INTRODUCTION China is the world’s largest tobacco-consuming nation. With minimal packaging regulations, the Chinese tobacco industry can use many appeals to promote their products, including calling upon traditions and culture to make positive connections between consumers and harmful products. We analyzed the nature and extent of cultural appeals on Chinese cigarette packs. METHODS A total of 610 unique cigarette packs were collected in 2017 from five major Chinese cities (Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Kunming, and Chengdu) following a systematic protocol. Two trained independent coders knowledgeable about Chinese culture and language coded the packs in accordance with a specially developed codebook encompassing important Chinese cultural symbols. The prevalence of identified elements was determined and interpreted. RESULTS Overall, 60.7% (n=370) of the analyzed Chinese cigarette packs in our sample contained at least one culturally specific appeal. The most common cultural appeals included written arts (n=131; 21.5%), celebratory red as the primary pack color (n=119; 19.5%), visual arts (n=70; 11.4%), and special occasions (n=60; 9.9%). There was a diverse range of cultural appeals present on the packs. CONCLUSIONS Cultural appeals are common on Chinese tobacco packaging, with over 60% of all analyzed packs containing at least one culturally specific element. With China’s packaging policies requiring health warning labels to occupy only 35% of the pack, the tobacco industry is allowed plenty of package space to incorporate cultural elements among other appeals. A plain and standardized packaging policy would eliminate the ability for Chinese tobacco companies to use cultural appeals on their cigarette packs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The problematic use of cultural symbols on Chinese cigarette packs

Xing,

Dai,

Madar

et al. 2023

Tob. Induc. Dis.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In 2018, 26.6% of Chinese adults used tobacco (approximately 300 million current smokers) 1 2. Marketing activities by the tobacco industry account in part for the high rate of tobacco use 3 4. Studies from China suggest that exposures to tobacco marketing activities are associated with higher levels of tobacco consumption,5 and increased rates of smoking susceptibility and initiation among young people 5 6…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culturally specific health-related features on cigarette packs sold in China

et al. 2022

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BackgroundChina is the country with the highest burden of tobacco-caused disease. We characterised the extent to which cigarette pack marketing features (eg, imagery, text, pack color) could potentially mislead consumers by suggesting products are healthy.MethodsWe used two methods: group concept mapping and content analysis. First, we used a group concept mapping approach to generate and sort Chinese consumer responses to an open-ended prompt asking what marketing features suggest a product is ‘healthy’ or ‘good for you’. Second, based on the concept mapping results, we developed a codebook of health-related features on cigarette packs that were relevant to the unique cultural context of product marketing in China. Two trained coders who were native Chinese speakers double-coded a sample of 1023 cigarette packs purchased in 2013 (wave 1) and 2017 (wave 2). We examined differences in the presence of features overall and over time.ResultsOverall, 83.5% (n=854) of Chinese cigarette packs in our sample contained at least one ‘healthy’ or ‘good for you’ feature, and the presence of health-related features on packs remained constant between wave 1 (83.5%, n=354) and wave 2 (83.5%, n=500; p=1.00). Across both waves, the most common categories of culturally specific health features present related to recycling symbols, rare animal imagery, bright colours (eg, bright yellow) and botanical imagery (eg, bamboo, mint).ConclusionHealth-related features on cigarette packs sold in China are common. Enhanced policies to address tobacco packaging, labelling and branding could support and facilitate a reduction in the high tobacco burden in China.

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The Tobacco Industry: Marketing Strategies and Consumption

Cited by 2 publications

References 89 publications

The problematic use of cultural symbols on Chinese cigarette packs

The problematic use of cultural symbols on Chinese cigarette packs

Culturally specific health-related features on cigarette packs sold in China

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