E-cigarette adverts and children’s perceptions of tobacco smoking harms: an experimental study and meta-analysis

Introduction:
This text is a research article that presents the findings of a study examining the impact of exposure to e-cigarette advertisements on children's perceptions of the harms of tobacco smoking. The study aims to replicate and extend prior research in this area by using a larger sample and a stronger control condition.

Key Points:

* The study is a between-subjects experiment with two levels of the independent factor corresponding to the advertisements to which participants were exposed: glamorous e-cigarette adverts or adverts for objects unrelated to smoking or vaping.
* The sample consisted of 1449 English school children aged 11-16, and the primary outcome measured was perceived harm of occasional smoking of one or two tobacco cigarettes.
* The results showed that children exposed to glamorous e-cigarette adverts perceived the harms of occasional smoking of one or two tobacco cigarettes to be lower than those in the control group.
* An updated meta-analysis confirmed that exposure to different types of e-cigarette adverts lowers the perceived harm of occasional smoking of one or two tobacco cigarettes.
* The study also measured children's perceptions of the harms of regular tobacco smoking, susceptibility to tobacco smoking, and perceived prevalence of tobacco smoking in young people.
* Perceptions of using e-cigarettes were gauged by adapting all the outcome measures used to assess perceptions of tobacco smoking.

Main Message:
The main message of this study is that exposure to e-cigarette advertisements reduces children's perceptions of the harms of occasional tobacco smoking. This finding is important because perceived harm is a key construct affecting health behavior change in multiple theories of behavior change. The study adds to existing evidence that children's perceptions of the harms of tobacco smoking may be influenced by exposure to e-cigarette advertisements, and further research is warranted to assess a wider range of possible impacts of e-cigarette marketing.

Vasiljevic, Milica, Amelia St John Wallis, Saphsa Codling, Dominique-Laurent Couturier, Stephen Sutton, and Theresa M Marteau. “E-Cigarette Adverts and Children’s Perceptions of Tobacco Smoking Harms: An Experimental Study and Meta-Analysis.” BMJ Open 8, no. 7 (July 2018): e020247. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020247.