Does e-cigarette advertising encourage adult smokers to quit?

Dhaval Dave; Daniel Dench; Michael Grossman; Donald S Kenkel; Henry Saffer

doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2019.102227

Does e-cigarette advertising encourage adult smokers to quit?

J Health Econ. 2019 Dec:68:102227. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2019.102227. Epub 2019 Aug 22.

Authors

Dhaval Dave¹, Daniel Dench², Michael Grossman³, Donald S Kenkel⁴, Henry Saffer⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Economics, Bentley University, 175 Forest Street, AAC 195 Waltham, MA 02452, USA; National Bureau of Economic Research, 5 Hanover Square, 16th Floor, Suite 1602, New York, NY 10004-2630, USA; IZA, Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5-9, 53113 Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: ddave@bentley.edu.
² Ph.D. Program in Economics, City University of New York Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309, USA. Electronic address: danieldench1@gmail.com.
³ National Bureau of Economic Research, 5 Hanover Square, 16th Floor, Suite 1602, New York, NY 10004-2630, USA; IZA, Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5-9, 53113 Bonn, Germany; Ph.D. Program in Economics, City University of New York Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309, USA. Electronic address: mgrossman@gc.cuny.edu.
⁴ National Bureau of Economic Research, 5 Hanover Square, 16th Floor, Suite 1602, New York, NY 10004-2630, USA; Department of Policy Analysis and Management, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-4401, USA. Electronic address: dsk10@cornell.edu.
⁵ National Bureau of Economic Research, 5 Hanover Square, 16th Floor, Suite 1602, New York, NY 10004-2630, USA. Electronic address: hsaffer@gc.cuny.edu.

Abstract

We provide the first causal evidence on whether e-cigarette advertising on television and in magazines encourages adult smokers to quit. We find the answer to be yes for TV advertising but no for magazine advertising. Our results indicate that a policy banning TV advertising of e-cigs would have reduced the number of smokers who quit in the recent past by approximately 3%. If the FDA were not considering regulations and mandates, e-cig ads might have reached the number of nicotine replacement therapy TV ads during that period. That would have increased the number of smokers who quit by around 10%.

Keywords: Advertising; E-cigarettes; Quit behavior.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems*
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Motivation*
Smokers
Smoking Cessation*
Young Adult

Grants and funding

R01 DA039968/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States