ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2011
Impact of the removal of misleading terms on cigarette pack on smokers' beliefs about 'light/mild' cigarettes: cross-country comparisons.
Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- What do we know about the effects of exposure to 'Low alcohol' and equivalent product labelling on the amounts of alcohol, food and tobacco people select and consume? A systematic review.BMC public health · 2017Pooled it
- Attitudinal Spillover from Misleading Natural Cigarette Marketing: An Experiment Examining Current and Former Smokers' Support for Tobacco Industry Regulation.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Trial
- Effects of unventilated versus ventilated filtered cigarettes on smoking behaviour and biomarkers of smoke exposure in a randomised clinical trial.Tobacco control · 2026Article
- Colour attributes in packaging of oral nicotine pouches: an artificial intelligence guided analysis.Tobacco control · 2025Article
- The Effects of Filter Ventilation and Expanded Tobacco on the Tar, Nicotine and Carbon Monoxide Yields from Cigarettes Sold in Australia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Is perception reality? Associations among "light" cigarettes and number of cigarettes smoked per day.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Article
- Shedding 'light' on cigarette pack design: colour differences in product perceptions, use and exposure following the US descriptor ban.Tobacco control · 2022Article
- Smokers' awareness of filter ventilation, and how they believe it affects them: findings from the ITC Four Country Survey.Tobacco control · 2021Article
- 'I perceive it to be less harmful, I have no idea if it is or not:' a qualitative exploration of the harm perceptions of IQOS among adult users.Harm reduction journal · 2021Article
- Smokers' perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors.Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2021Article
- Smokers Awareness and Risk Perceptions of Filter Ventilation.Tobacco regulatory science · 2020Article
- A cigarette pack by any other color: Youth perceptions mostly align with tobacco industry-ascribed meanings.Preventive medicine reports · 2019Article
- "The Packaging Is Very Inviting and Makes Smokers Feel Like They're More Safe": The Meanings of Natural American Spirit Cigarette Pack Design to Adult Smokers.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2019Article
- Influences of Tobacco-Related Knowledge on Awareness and Behavior towards Smoking.Journal of Korean medical science · 2018Article
- Smokers' risk perceptions and misperceptions of cigarettes, e-cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapies.Drug and alcohol review · 2018Article
- Defending strong tobacco packaging and labelling regulations in Uruguay: transnational tobacco control network versus Philip Morris International.Tobacco control · 2018Article
- Cigarette Design Features: Effects on Emission Levels, User Perception, and Behavior.Tobacco regulatory science · 2018Article
- Cigarette Filter Ventilation and its Relationship to Increasing Rates of Lung Adenocarcinoma.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2017Review
- Packaging colour research by tobacco companies: the pack as a product characteristic.Tobacco control · 2017Article
- US Smokers' Beliefs, Experiences and Perceptions of Different Cigarette Variants Before and After the FSPTCA Ban on Misleading Descriptors Such as "Light," "Mild," or "Low".Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimThis paper examines how smokers' beliefs about 'light/mild' cigarettes in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom were affected by the removal of misleading 'light/mild' terms from packs. DESIGN, SETTING AND
participantsThe data come from the first seven waves (2002-09) of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation (ITC) Four-Country Survey, an annual cohort telephone survey of adult smokers in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia (21 613 individual cases). 'Light' and 'mild' descriptors were removed in 2003 in the United Kingdom, in 2006 in Australia and in 2007 in Canada. We compare beliefs about 'light' cigarettes both before and after the bans, with those of smokers in the United States serving as the control condition. MEASURES: Smokers' beliefs about 'light' cigarettes were assessed using a set of statements rated on a five-point 'agree'-'disagree' scale.
findingsThe proportions of respondents reporting misperceptions about light cigarettes declined between 2002 and 2009 in all four countries. There were marked temporary reductions in reported misperceptions in the United Kingdom and Australia, but not in Canada, following the removal of 'light/mild' descriptors.
conclusionsRemoval of 'light/mild' descriptors and tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yield information from cigarette packs is insufficient to effectively eliminate false beliefs. The combination of alternative descriptors and design features that produce differences in taste strength and harshness, independent of actual intakes, are sufficient to produce or sustain the same misbeliefs.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.