US study finds that e-cig adverts may encourage smokers to quit

Researchers from Bentley University, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Cornell University and the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that if e-cigarette ads were banned, the current cigarette quitting rate would drop by 3%.

Diane Caruana

February 15, 2018

According to the report published on NBER, there are four times as many nicotine replacement therapy ads than e-cigarette commercials around, and the researchers concluded that if more of the latter were could be seen, more smokers would quit.

Banned e-cig TV adverts would reduce quitting rates by approximately 3%, resulting in about 105,000 fewer quitters, whereas magazine adverts seem to have no impact.

The researchers surveyed 25,000 individuals between 2013 and 2015, inquiring about their smoking status, whether they had tried quitting, the methods used and their success rates. The data collected indicates that a ban on TV adverts of e-cigarettes would reduce quitting rates by approximately 3%, resulting in about 105,000 fewer quitters whereas magazine adverts seem to have no impact.

The study authors added that had not the FDA been considering regulations that were limiting e-cigarette manufacturers during the time of the study, e-cigarette adverts may have reached the same number of adverts as those of other NRTs. The researchers calculated that this would have equated to about a 10% increase in quitters, resulting in an additional 350,000.

E-cig adverts in a stop smoking campaign in the UK

On the other hand in the UK, e-cigarettes played a central role in this year’s Stoptober campaign. The campaign offers smokers a number of suggestions to quit, and highly recommends the combination of behavioral support and the use of Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs), amongst which vaping products. However this year, not only did e-cigarettes play a role in Stoptober, but for the first time ever, they even featured on the campaign’s tv adverts.

Read Further: Market watch