Active Research
International food policy study: Evaluating the impact of food labelling, marketing,
and fiscal nutrition policies.
Marketing of unhealthy foods can promote obesity and non-communicable disease. Countries have restricted food marketing in contrasting ways, yet little is known about the effectiveness of marketing restriction policies. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of national level food policies on dietary behaviors between and within countries.
Research activities: From 2018 – 2024, we are conducting annual cross-sectional surveys of approximately 4,500 adults in Australia, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the United States.
Funding Agency: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant (PI Hammond)
People: Jim Thrasher (Co-Investigator), Rachel Davis, Gabriela Armendariz, Yoojin Cho, Emily
Loud, Adebusola Ogunnaike
Completed Research (Selected Projects)
The differential impact of the Canadian point-of-sale tobacco display bans on quit attempts and smoking cessation outcomes by sex, income, and education: Longitudinal findings from the ITC Canada Survey
This study examines the differential effects of Canadian point-of-sale (POS) tobacco display bans across provinces on quit attempts and smoking cessation, by sex, education, and income. We analyzed survey data from five waves (waves 4–8) of the International Tobacco Control Canada Survey, a population-based, longitudinal survey, where provinces implemented display bans between 2004 and 2010. POS bans were discovered to be associated with increased smoking cessation overall and more quit attempts among women than men.
Funding Agency: National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (R37CA214787)
People: Bukola Usidame, Yanmei Xie, James F Thrasher, Paula Lozano, Michael R Elliott, Geoffrey
T Fong, and Nancy L. Fleischer
Moving targets: how the rapidly changing tobacco and nicotine landscape creates advertising and promotion policy challenges.
Tobacco, nicotine and related products have and continue to change rapidly, creating new challenges for policies regulating their advertising, promotion, sponsorship and sales. This paper reviews recent commercial product offerings and the regulatory challenges associated with them. This includes electronic nicotine delivery systems, electronic non-nicotine delivery systems, personal vaporisers, heated tobacco products, nicotine salts, tobacco-free nicotine products, other nicotine products resembling nicotine replacement therapies, and various vitamin and cannabis products that share delivery devices or marketing channels with tobacco products. There is substantial variation in the availability of these tobacco, nicotine, vaporised, and related products globally, and policies regulating these products also vary substantially between countries.
Funding Agency: National Institutes of Health (U54 HL147127).
People: Pamela M Ling, Minji Kim, Catherine O Egbe, Roengrudee Patanavanich , Mariana Pinho, Yogi Hendlin
Young Adult Responses to Peer Crowd-Based Targeting in E-cigarette Advertisements: An Experimental Study
Young adulthood, often defined as 18–29 years old, is a critical time for both initiation and cessation of tobacco and nicotine use. Young adults are sensitive to peer norms and attitudes and they are a highly coveted target of tobacco marketing. The use of e-cigarettes among young adults has increased between 2014 and 2018. This study examined the effects of psychographically targeted e-cigarette advertisements on young adults living in the United States through a nationwide opt-in online panel. Low-risk young adults (eg, those who currently do not use tobacco and nicotine products) are susceptible to psychographically targeted e-cigarette advertisements. This may result in the initiation of e-cigarette use among young adults who would otherwise be less likely to use tobacco and nicotine products. Stricter marketing regulations for emerging tobacco and nicotine products are required to reduce marketing exposure.
Funding Agency: National Cancer Institute (R01CA141661); Food and Drug Administration/National Institutes of Health (P50CA180890, U54HL147127).
People: Minji Kim, Torsten B Neilands, Steven E Gregorich, Jeffrey W Jordan, Pamela M Ling
Vaping and anime: a growing area of concern
Anime, or Japanese animation which combines graphic art, characterisation and cinematography, is experiencing a global boom after having doubled its market size over the past decade. Anime is popular among adolescents and young adults, who are targeted with content related to romantic attraction, teen relationships, depression anddespair. Using a search engine, we found numerous examples of strategies previously found to be effective in promoting tobacco use among adolescents and young adults, including linking products and behaviour to popular movies and video games; using cartoon-based marketing; and leveraging social media to market to youth. We identified manufacturers branding their products and nicotine liquid after anime shows and character. The increasing popularity of anime shows featuring e-cigarette use may encourage uptake among adolescents and young adults, as has been the case with exposure to combustible tobacco use imagery in other entertainment media. Thus, it is important to prevent young anime viewers from initiating combustible and e-cigarette products because of the influence of anime.
Funding Agency: National Cancer Institute and the Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) funded Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) at the University of Southern California (U54CA180905), and the National Institute of Drug Abuse and FDA CTP’s Center for Coordination of Analytics, Science, Enhancement, and Logistics (CASEL) in Tobacco Regulatory Science (U54-DA046060-01).
People: Heather Lynn Wipfli, Minji Kim, Julia Vassey, and Cassandra Stanton