Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32312796›Full record

ArticleTobacco control2020

'Being politically active does not have to be difficult.' A content analysis of tobacco industry-sponsored advocacy websites.

M Jane Lewis, Christopher Ackerman, Pamela Ling

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Tobacco control, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

M Jane LewisRutgers Center for Tobacco Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA lewismj@sph.rutgers.edu.ORCID 0000-0001-5866-8909
Christopher AckermanRutgers Center for Tobacco Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
Pamela LingCenter for Tobacco Control Research and Education and Division of General Internal Medicine, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6166-9347

Funding

ANALYSIS OF TOBACCO INDUSTRY DOCUMENTSR01CA087472 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI LING, PAMELA MAY · 2000 to 2018
$12.5M
Countering Young Adult Tobacco Marketing in BarsU01CA154240 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI LING, PAMELA MAY · 2011 to 2015
$6.1M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA087472NCI NIH HHS U01 CA154240
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo characterise the thematic content of tobacco industry-sponsored advocacy websites in the USA and to compare these sites to identify differences in products, target audience, policies or themes.

methodsIn 2017, US-based Google and purposive searches identified six US tobacco industry-sponsored advocacy websites. A coding guide based on existing literature, tobacco policy issues and iterative review of the websites was developed and, descriptive analyses of themes on individual websites and overall were conducted.

resultsWe identified 18 themes; the most common of these were: tobacco taxes (13.9%), providing advocacy resources (10.6%) and pleas for action (10.3%). Related themes were aggregated into four broad categories: advocacy (36.7%), taxes (31.4%), legislation is excessive or unnecessary (21%), and support for weaker tobacco control policies (10.9%). Websites targeting consumers provided more resources to facilitate advocacy than websites targeting retailers.

conclusionsWebsites promoting protobacco advocacy are an important and evolving strategy for the tobacco industry. Websites are particularly well suited to leverage marketing activities (eg, building relationships with retailers and consumers) to achieve policy objectives. Monitoring these tactics may allow advocates to counter and anticipate industry opposition to tobacco policy.

Indexed as

Tobacco IndustryTobacco ProductsHumansMarketingTaxesTobacco Useadvocacypublic policysurveillance and monitoringtobacco industry

Identifiers

PMID32312796
PMCPMC8629944

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Registered trials

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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.