Youths` interest in e-cigarettes influenced by in-store displays

The prominent in-store advertising that has been shown to attract young people to conventional cigarettes appears to have a similar effect on interest in using electronic cigarettes, a new study suggests.

The RAND study, published online in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, found that adolescents who were exposed to advertising on a tobacco “power wall” directly behind the cash register in convenience stores reported being more willing to try e-cigarettes than youths from whom these products and their promotional messages were hidden.

The study was conducted with youths ages 11 to 17 in a laboratory that replicated a full-size convenience store, and the researchers accounted for factors such as demographic characteristics and participants' prior use of products containing nicotine. Vaping products in recent years have begun to take a prominent position in many convenience stores' product and advertising displays.

“Our findings provide evidence that hiding the tobacco wall in convenience stores might reduce the number of adolescents who try e-cigarettes,” said RAND behavioral scientist and study lead author Michael S. Dunbar. “This is evidence that the tobacco power wall helps influence the attitudes of adolescents toward not only combustible cigarettes, but vaping products as well.”