Plain Tobacco Packaging: A Systematic Review

(From the Executive Summary): This systematic review outlines findings from 37 studies that provide evidence of the impacts of plain tobacco packaging. The review was conducted following the publication of the March 2011 White Paper Healthy Lives: Healthy People which set out a renewed Tobacco Control Plan for England. One of the key actions identified in the plan was to consult on possible options to reduce the promotional impact of tobacco packaging, including plain packaging. This systematic review was commissioned to provide a comprehensive overview of evidence on the impact of plain packaging in order to inform a public consultation on the issue

The Messages Presented in Electronic Cigarette-Related Social Media Promotions and Discussion: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: There has been a rapid rise in the popularity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) over the last decade, with growth predicted to continue. The uptake of these devices has escalated despite inconclusive evidence of their efficacy as a smoking cessation device and unknown long-term health consequences. As smoking rates continue to drop or plateau in many well-developed countries, transnational tobacco companies have transitioned into the vaping industry and are now using social media to promote their products. Evidence indicates e-cigarettes are being marketed on social media as a harm reduction alternative, with retailers and manufacturers utilizing marketing techniques historically used by the tobacco industry. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify and describe the messages presented in e-cigarette-related social media (Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest) promotions and discussions and identify future directions for research, surveillance, and regulation. METHODS: Data sources included MEDLINE, Scopus, ProQuest, Informit, the Journal of Medical Internet Research, and Google Scholar. Included studies were published in English between 2007 and 2017, analyzed content captured from e-cigarette-related social media promotions or discussions, and reported results for e-cigarettes separately from other forms of tobacco and nicotine delivery. Database search ceased in October 2017. Initial searches identified 536 studies. Two reviewers screened studies by title and abstract. One reviewer examined 71 full-text articles to determine eligibility and identified 25 studies for inclusion. This process was undertaken with the assistance of the Web-based screening and data extraction tool-Covidence. The review was registered with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Systematic Reviews database and followed the methodology for JBI Scoping Reviews. RESULTS: Several key messages are being used to promote e-cigarettes including as a safer alternative to cigarettes, efficacy as a smoking cessation aid, and for use where smoking is prohibited. Other major marketing efforts aimed at capturing a larger market involve promotion of innovative flavoring and highlighting the public performance of vaping. Discussion and promotion of these devices appear to be predominantly occurring among the general public and those with vested interests such as retailers and manufacturers. There is a noticeable silence from the public health and government sector in these discussions on social media. CONCLUSIONS: The social media landscape is dominated by pro-vaping messages disseminated by the vaping industry and vaping proponents. The uncertainty surrounding e-cigarette regulation expressed within the public health field appears not to be reflected in ongoing social media dialogues and highlights the need for public health professionals to interact with the public to actively influence social media conversations and create a more balanced discussion. With the vaping industry changing so rapidly, real-time monitoring and surveillance of how these devices are discussed, promoted, and used on social media is necessary in conjunction with evidence published in academic journals

Past, present, and future research on self-service merchandising: A co-word and text mining approach

Purpose This study aims to discern emerging trends and provide a longitudinal perspective on merchandising research by identifying relationships between merchandising-related subdomains/themes. Design/methodology/approach This study sourced 657 merchandising-related articles published since 1960, from the Scopus database and 425 from Web of Science. After processing and normalizing the data, this study performed co-word and thematic network analyses. Taking a text mining approach, this study used topic modeling to identify a set of coherent topics characterized by the keywords of the articles. Findings This study identified the following merchandising-related themes: branding, retail, consumer, behavior, modeling, textile and clothing industry and visual merchandising. Although visual merchandising was the first type of merchandising to be used in-store, only recently has it become an emerging topic in the academic literature. There has been a further trend over the past decade to understand the adoption of simulation technology, such as computer-aided design, particularly in supply chain management in the clothing industry. These and other findings contribute to the discussion of the merchandising concept, approached from an evolutionary perspective. Research limitations/implications The conclusions of this study hold implications at the intersection of merchandising, sectors, new technologies, research methodologies and merchandising-practitioner education. Research trends suggest that, in the future, virtual reality and augmented reality using neuroscientific methods will be applied to the e-merchandising context. Practical implications The different dimensions of merchandising can be used to leverage store managers’ decision-making process toward an integrated store-management strategy. In particular, by adopting loyalty merchandising tactics, the store can generate emotional attachment among consumers, who will perceive its value and services as unique, thanks to merchandising items designed specifically with that aim in mind. The stimulation of unplanned purchases, the strategic location of products and duration of each merchandising activity in the store, the digitalization of merchandising and the application of findings from neuroscience studies are some of the most relevant practical applications. Originality/value This study provides the first-ever longitudinal review of the state of the art in merchandising research, taking a holistic perspective of this field of knowledge spanning a 60-year period. The work makes a valuable contribution to the development of the marketing discipline.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Past, present, and future research on self-service merchandising: A co-word and text mining approach

Purpose: This study aims to discern emerging trends and provide a longitudinal perspective on merchandising research by identifying relationships between merchandising-related subdomains/themes. Design/methodology/approach: We sourced 657 merchandising-related articles published since 1960, from the Scopus database and 425 from Web of Science. After processing and normalizing the data, we performed co-word and thematic network analyses. Taking a text mining approach, we used topic modeling to identify a set of coherent topics characterized by the keywords of the articles. Findings: We identified the following merchandising-related themes: branding, retail, consumer, behavior, modeling, textile and clothing industry, and visual merchandising. Although visual merchandising was the first type of merchandising to be used in-store, only recently has it become an emerging topic in the academic literature. There has been a further trend over the last decade to understand the adoption of simulation technology, such as computer-aided design, particularly in supply chain management in the clothing industry. These and other findings contribute to our discussion of the merchandising concept, approached from an evolutionary perspective. Research limitations/implications: The conclusions of the study hold implications at the intersection of merchandising, sectors, new technologies, research methodologies, and merchandising-practitioner education. Research trends suggest that, in the future, virtual reality and augmented reality using neuroscientific methods will be applied to the emerchandising context. Practical implications: The different dimensions of merchandising can be used to leverage store managers’ decision-making process toward an integrated store-management strategy. In particular, by adopting loyalty merchandising tactics, the store can generate emotional attachment among consumers, who will perceive its value and services as unique, thanks to merchandising items designed specifically with that aim in mind. The stimulation of unplanned purchases, the strategic location of products and duration of each merchandising activity in the store, the digitalization of merchandising, and the application of findings from neuroscience studies are some of the most relevant practical applications. Originality/value: The study provides the first-ever longitudinal review of the state of the art in merchandising research, taking a holistic perspective of this field of knowledge spanning a 60-year period. The work makes a valuable contribution to the development of the marketing discipline

“Keep Calm, it's just Vapour”: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Online E-Cigarette Discourse and User Perspectives in Western Australia

The aim of this research was to understand how electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are promoted, accessed, and used within a tightly regulated environment, by exploring the Australian online e-cigarette discourse, and the perspectives of e-cigarette users residing within the Greater Capital City Statistical Area of Perth, Western Australia. To achieve this aim three substudies were undertaken: a) scoping review, b) Twitter inquiry and c) qualitative inquiry

Social media exploration for understanding food product attributes perception: the case of coffee and health with Twitter data

Purpose: Food companies and consumers are increasingly interested in healthy food and beverages. Coffee is one of the most commonly consumed beverages worldwide. There is increasing consensus that coffee consumption can have beneficial effects on human body. This paper aims at exploring Twitter messages' content and sentiment towards health attributes of coffee. Design/methodology/approach: The research adopted a utilitarian and hedonic consumer behaviour perspective to analyse online community messages. A sample of 13,000 tweets, from around 4,800 users, that mentions keywords coffee and health was collected on a daily basis for a month in mid-2017. The tweets were categorized with a term frequency analysis, keyword-in-context analysis and sentiment analysis. Findings: Results showed that the majority of tweets are neutral or slightly positive towards coffee’s effects on health. Media and consumers are dynamic Twitter users. Findings support that coffee consumption brings favourable emotions, wellness, energy, positive state of mind and an enjoyable and trendy lifestyle. Many tweets have a positive perception of coffee health benefits, especially relating to mental and physical well-being. Research limitations/implications: The high number of users and tweets analysed compensates the limited amount of time of data collection, Twitter messages' restricted number of characters and quantitative software analysis limitations. Practical implications: The research provides valuable suggestions for food and beverage industry managers. Originality/value: This work adds value to the literature by expanding scholars' research on food product attributes perception analysis by using social media as a source of information. Moreover, it provides valuable information on marketable coffee attributes

Revisiting the Categorical Imperative: Assessing the Categorization of Taken-for-Granted Products

This dissertation uses two articles to examine the outcomes that occur when the taken-for-granted status of products like ice cream is disrupted. In chapter one, I conduct an overview of the categorical imperative, which asserts that products must possess category typical features to receive rewards, and how taken-for-grantedness mitigates this process. In chapter two, I discuss how products come to be taken-for-granted and how this status can lead to penalties or rewards. In chapter three, I present my first empirical chapter, where I assess the outcomes of two cases involving ice cream products losing their taken-for-granted status. For the first case, I used news articles to assess the outcomes of American branded ice creams entering markets in Asian countries. The findings, in part, reveal that American branded ice creams were rewarded as Asian countries had significantly higher positive emotional tones in their news articles that discussed these products, compared to articles from the US. Second, I used reddit to assess how individuals responded to the FDA recategorizing Breyers’ products as frozen dairy desserts. The findings, in part, reveal that scores for reddit posts increase when posts punished Breyers for the recategorization. In chapter four, I detail my second empirical chapter, where I observe the outcomes of individuals paying closer attention to ice cream when craft producers enter an existing market. Using Yelp reviews from the San Francisco Bay Area, I show that increased competition from craft ice cream causes mass producing ice cream shops to experience penalties (decreases in Yelp ratings and positive emotions directed towards them). With these articles, I show that the ways taken-for-grantedness is disrupted (agentically or through constraint), can inform outcomes

Peer influence in social media

This literature review will go through the relatively new field of study of peer influence in social media. The neurological study of electronic peer influence can be used to explain why users engage in social media, why social media marketing is effective and why the so-called influencers emerge amongst the social media users. The communication amongst the peers, word-of-mouth, was also a factor in the study. The review was conducted by studying the few peer influence social media studies that currently exist, as well as supporting subjects of word-of-mouth communication, the tie strength research and the endorser/product fit, which are the theories that support the idea of the social media influencer effect

User-Generated Data Network Effects and Market Competition Dynamics

This Article defines User-Generated Data (“UGD”) network effects, distinguishes them from the more familiar concept of traditional network effects, and explores their implications for market competition dynamics. It explains that UGD network effects produce various efficiencies for digital service providers (“data platforms”) by empowering their services’ optimization, personalization, and continuous diversification. In light of these efficiencies, competition dynamics in UGD-driven markets tend to be unstable and lead to the formation of dominant multi-industry conglomerates. These processes will enhance social welfare because they are natural and efficient. Conversely, countervailing UGD network effects also empower data platforms to detect and neutralize competitive threats, price discriminate among users, and manipulate users’ behaviors. The realization of these effects will result in inefficiencies, which will undermine social welfare. After a comprehensive analysis of conflicting economic forces, this Article sets the ground for informed policymaking. It suggests that emerging calls to aggravate antitrust enforcement and to “break up” Big Tech are ill-advised. Instead, this Article calls for policymakers to draw inspiration from traditional network industries’ public utility and open-access regulations