An Experimental Study of the Effects of Exposure to Point-Of-Sale Cigarette Ads and Product Displays on Schoolchildren
The subject I selected for discussion is an experimental study of the effects of exposure to point-of-sale cigarette ads and product displays on schoolchildren. The study’s goal was to investigate the impact of cigarette packaging displays and advertisements on the point of sale on the attitudes, beliefs, and intentions related to smoking among students. The study used earlier research to hypothesize that exposure to point-of-sale retail tobacco advertising and cigarette pack displays would influence students ‘ perceptions. This perception includes ease of access to cigarettes, normative beliefs about smoking, perceived smoking harms, perceived cigarette brand popularity, and future smoking intentions (Wakefield, 2006). The study was carried out from five secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, using a sample of 605 ninth-grade students aged 14–15 years. These students came from two Catholic boys’ schools, a co-educational private school, a co-educational public school, and a Catholic girls’ school. Four of the schools were situated in areas of above-average socio-economic advantage for Victoria, while the other two were located in areas with below-average socio-economic benefits.
The data collection was carried out in late 2003 and early 2004. The study used experimental research design between subjects similar to that developed by Henriksen et al. Under the pretext of pre-testing a news story written for teens, participants inside each classroom were randomly subjected to one of the three point-of-sale conditions. Such conditions include the point-of-sale area of a convenience store with no noticeable tobacco presence, the point-of-sale area of a convenience store with a show of a cigarette pack, but no cigarette ads, and a point-of-sale area with both cigarette advertisements and cigarette pack displays (Wakefield, 2006). Trained investigative assistants visited the schools to conduct the study.
Before the experimental manipulation, all students participated in a discussion that aimed at increasing the salience of general brand advertising and display. After brand advertising was discussed, students in classrooms were randomly assigned to view photographs of one of the three conditions. A research assistant then read a fictitious news story about teen eating habits and convenience stores visits aloud. Students were told to take a close look at the picture of the point-of-sale they were given and to imagine wandering around the shop, seeing what to buy while listening to the story (Wakefield, 2006). After the news story was read out, all point-of-sale photographs were collected by the research assistants to ensure that the students did not subsequently refer to them. Then, the students completed a short questionnaire. The entire data collection session was completed over a 45-minute class duration.
The group of 605 students comprised 51% females and 49% males. The study showed that students subjected to either the cigarette show or the conditions of cigarette ads considered that purchasing tobacco would be less stressful for themselves or students of their age than those students who saw the picture of no cigarettes. However, students who saw the cigarette advertisement situation were less likely to say that they would be asked for proof of age if they wanted to purchase cigarettes than respondents in the no cigarettes scenario. Whatever the condition of the survey, most students agreed that smoking has adverse health effects. Smoking < 10 cigarettes a day was considered ‘very dangerous’ by over half of the students (Wakefield, 2006). However, only 15 percent of students thought that sometimes smoking one or two cigarettes was ‘very dangerous.’ In comparison, another 55 percent thought it was ‘a little dangerous’ to smoke, and 25 percent thought it was not dangerous. Concerning potential smoking intentions, students who saw cigarette advertising appeared to indicate that they would smoke a cigarette at any point during the following year relative to those who saw the cigarette view condition.
Overall, the findings indicate that the appearance of cigarettes at the point of sale, whether displaying cigarettes only or displaying plus tobacco advertising, increased the students’ expectations about the ease of buying cigarettes. Furthermore, the existence of tobacco advertisements decreased the perceived likelihood of students being asked for evidence of age. It appeared to increase expectations of the number of stores that would sell them cigarettes (Wakefield, 2006). This pattern of findings suggests that displays in retail stores serve to create the perception among students that cigarettes are readily available and accessible in their community. In contrast, the presence of tobacco advertising further reinforces the perceived ease of cigarette accessibility.
The legal concerns raised in the research were high school students’ access to tobacco-related matters. The thought of exposing underage children to cigarette advertising and shows of cigarettes seems immoral because it can lead to increased cigarette use. The study was carried out independently of other well-known influences on smoking perceptions such as sex, sensitivity to smoking, and social and family exposure to cigarette smoking through randomized design. This efficiency was achieved by analyzing data through GEEs with random effects, where the school attended by respondents was treated as a random effect.
References
Henriksen, L., Flora, J., Feighery, E., & Fortmann, S. (2002). Effects on Youth of Exposure to Retail Tobacco Advertising1. Journal Of Applied Social Psychology, 32(9), 1771-1789. doi: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb00258.x
Wakefield, M. (2006). An experimental study of effects on schoolchildren of exposure to point-of-sale cigarette advertising and pack displays. Health Education Research, 21(3), 338-347. doi: 10.1093/her/cyl005