ArticleTobacco control2025
Utilisation of waterpipe tobacco imagery in cigarette advertising: a case study of American tobacco company and RJ Reynolds tobacco company.
Article in Tobacco control, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTobacco companies employ various advertising methods, including immersive consumer experiences and cultural imagery, to promote their products. To our knowledge, no prior studies have explored how cigarette companies exploited perceptions of waterpipe tobacco in their marketing activities.
methodsWe conducted a search of the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library using keywords and snowball searches. Initial terms included 'water pipe', 'hookah', 'tradition', 'culture' and 'lounge', supplemented by programme, agency and individuals' names. Findings were cross-referenced with published scientific literature and advertising archives.
resultsAmerican Tobacco Co (ATC) introduced the Waterford cigarette in 1965. The cigarette used pinchable water capsules in its filter tip, emulating the waterpipe smoking mechanism of passing smoke through water. ATC used several waterpipe tobacco elements (textual and pictorial) in Waterford cigarette advertising. RJ Reynolds (RJR) executed the Camel Casbah Programme from 1998 to 2003 to target young adult smokers. It featured smoking lounges in outdoor concert amphitheatres with VIP treatment, including greeters and 'cigarette girls', to create a 'Camelesque' environment that enhanced the 'Pleasure to Burn Experience'. The programme operated in 30 US concert venues with, averaging 600 events annually, generating over two million consumer names for RJR's database. Casbah used hookah imagery and artefacts in interior décor, stories and the design of its Exotic Blend line extension ads.
conclusionsATC and RJR used cultural imagery related to waterpipe tobacco and hookah to promote cigarettes. Understanding these methods can help address contemporary tobacco product advertising practices using cultural artefacts.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.