Use of Brand Engagement Appeals in US Cigarette and E-Cigarettes Ads (2019-2020)

• Published in: Substance use & misuse Vol. 59; no. 6; p. 832
• Main Authors: Czaplicki, Lauren, Patel, Dhruva, Jewler, Kay, Moran, Meghan B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 2024
• Subjects: Advertising; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems; Humans; Marketing - methods; Tobacco Industry; Tobacco Products; marketing; cigarettes; advertising; e-cigarettes; Brand engagement
• ISSN: 1532-2491
• DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2024.2305791

The tobacco industry has historically used brand engagement - communication tactics companies use to increase customer attachment to a brand and brand loyalty - to recruit and retain consumers. Limited information is available to assess the brand engagement tactics used to promote the two most popular tobacco products in the US - cigarettes and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) - across different advertising platforms (e.g., direct-to-consumer (DTC), social media). We acquired 520 cigarette and 5,502 e-cigarette ads that ran in the US January 2019 to December 2020 from market research firms (Kantar, Numerator), Rutger's University ad surveillance website (trinketsandtrash.org), and branded social media accounts. Ads were double-coded for eight types of brand engagement tactics: , , , , , engagement request, , and subscription program. We report presence of brand engagement tactics by product type and advertising platform. Overall, 62.9% of cigarette ads and 49.9% of e-cigarette ads contained at least one brand engagement tactic. For cigarette ads, the most common tactics were and requests, which were most commonly featured in DTC ads. For e-cigarettes, the most common tactic was which was featured in most DTC and online e-cigarette ads. Brand engagement was common in this sample of cigarette and e-cigarette ads. Our findings highlight key differences in the type of brand engagement tactic used to promote each product on different advertising platforms. Results can inform continued advertising surveillance studies and regulatory efforts.