Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33598590›Full record

ArticleTobacco prevention & cessation2021

Use of internal documents to investigate a tobacco company's strategies to market snus in the United States.

Joshua U Rhee, Jamilla Y Abugazia, Yan Marco E Dela Cruz, David S Timberlake

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Tobacco prevention & cessation, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 35% of its field
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

3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. 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

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Joshua U RheeDepartment of Population Health and Disease Prevention, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, United States.
Jamilla Y AbugaziaDepartment of Population Health and Disease Prevention, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, United States.
Yan Marco E Dela CruzDepartment of Population Health and Disease Prevention, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, United States.
David S TimberlakeDepartment of Population Health and Disease Prevention, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, United States.
University of California, Irvine · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionPrior studies indicate that cigarette manufacturers have been interested for decades in developing a smokeless tobacco (SLT) product for smokers and non-users of SLT. The current study aims to assess a tobacco company's use of novel marketing strategies and intent to promote snus in the US as either a replacement or situational substitute for the cigarette.

methodsA Boolean search string was used to search R. J. Reynolds' (RJR) Records in UCSF's Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library. A total of 358 documents, from 2005-2009, met our initial search criteria and were selected for their relevance to the marketing of Camel Snus. A content analysis was subsequently conducted using the Framework Method to identify themes and strategies for promoting Camel Snus.

resultsFour major themes about Camel Snus emerged from the documents: 1) promotion by third parties including retailers, snus ambassadors and secret shoppers, 2) expansion of the target population of SLT users to include female smokers and dual users of cigarettes and SLT, 3) emphasis on the difference between Camel Snus and other SLT, and 4) a shift from promoting the practical uses of Camel Snus to using emotional messages conveying freedom.

conclusionsThe findings align with other studies suggesting that RJR intended to market snus to non-users of SLT. The findings also reveal that RJR employed creative marketing strategies (e.g. snus ambassadors) and may have intended to promote snus as a situational substitute for the cigarette, as evidenced by the company's recruitment of dual tobacco users.

Indexed as

harm reductioninternal documentsmarketing strategiespoly-use of tobaccosnus

Identifiers

PMID33598590
PMCPMC7879987
OpenAlexW3132496011

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.