Observational studyNicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco2019
Introduction of Standardized Tobacco Packaging During a 12-Month Transition Period: Findings From Small Retailers in the United Kingdom.
Observational study in Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- The policy implementation playbook: a cross-policy taxonomy of post-adoption tobacco industry tactics.Globalization and health · 2026Review
- Monitoring the Power of Child-Targeted Food Packaging: a Review of the Literature.Current nutrition reports · 2021Review
- Adolescents' perceptions of tobacco accessibility and smoking norms and attitudes in response to the tobacco point-of-sale display ban in Scotland: results from the DISPLAY Study.Tobacco control · 2020Article
- How did smokers respond to standardised cigarette packaging with new, larger health warnings in the United Kingdom during the transition period? A cross-sectional online survey.Addiction research & theory · 2020Article
- Article
- Pricing of tobacco products during, and after, the introduction of standardized packaging: an observational study of retail price data from independent and convenience (small) retailers in the United Kingdom.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2019Observational
- The Response of Retailers in Scotland to the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations and Tobacco Products Directive.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionFactory-made cigarettes (FMC) and roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco have had to be produced in standardized packaging since May 20, 2016 in the United Kingdom, with a minimum pack size of 20 sticks for FMC and 30 g for RYO. Manufacturers and retailers were given a 12-month transition period.
methodsAn observational study was conducted using monthly Electronic Point of Sale data from 500 small retailers in England, Scotland, and Wales, between May 2016 and May 2017. The 20 top selling tobacco products (15 FMC, 5 RYO) were monitored to observe when standardized packs were first introduced, the proportion of retailers selling each fully branded and standardized product, and the average number of monitored fully branded and standardized products sold by each retailer. The number of unique tobacco-related product codes sold by each retailer was also recorded each month.
resultsEighteen of the fully branded products continued to be sold throughout the transition period and no standardized variants were sold in the first 5 months. It was not until month eleven that the average number of standardized products sold by retailers exceeded the fully branded products. The average number of unique tobacco-related product codes sold by each retailer decreased by a third over the transition period.
conclusionsTobacco companies used the transition period to delay the removal of fully branded products and gradually introduce standardized variants. This staggered introduction may have mitigated some of the immediate intended effects of the legislation by desensitizing consumers to new pack designs. IMPLICATIONS: Evaluation research from countries which have introduced standardized packaging for tobacco products is key to help inform future implementation. This is the first study to monitor the transition from fully branded to standardized products using real-time retail data. The findings demonstrate that tobacco companies delayed the introduction of standardized products and removal of fully branded packaging. Countries seeking to introduce standardized packaging should consider what length of transition is allowed, as the protracted 12-month period in the United Kingdom appeared longer than needed to transition stockholding and may have mitigated immediate intended effects by desensitizing consumers to new pack designs.
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