The cigarette box as an advertising vehicle in the UK : a case for plain packaging

This research aimed to study tobacco advertising between 1950-2003 and to evaluate the role of the cigarette box in advertising. Tobacco company advertisements (n = 204) were coded for content and meanings used to promote their product. There was a significant shift from cigarettes being displayed to the cigarette box only. Changes in advertising and the meanings evoked were unrelated to changes in smoking behaviour. It is argued that the cigarette box has absorbed the meanings associated with smoking and has become an effective vehicle for advertising. It is also argued that this can only be minimised with plain packaging

An Investigation of the Impact of Science and the Media on Smoking Behaviour from 1950 to the Present Day.

This thesis aimed to explore possible mechanisms behind the delay between research in the 1950s linking smoking to disease and the 2007 United Kingdom public smoking ban, with a focus on scientific knowledge, advertising and the views of consumers and those who sell tobacco products. This thesis consists of five studies using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first study used a bibliometric analysis to evaluate the citation patterns of four key papers published by Doll and Hill, in the 1950s. The results showed that the original Doll and Hill paper, published in 1950 consistently received the highest number of citations of the four papers analysed, with citations increasing drastically between the 1990s and 2000s. All four papers analysed were most commonly cited in research articles in The Lancet and The British Medical Journal. The second study involved a quantitative content analysis of 240 pro and anti-tobacco advertisements published in the UK between 1950 and 2003. The results showed that throughout the decades, pro-smoking adverts became increasingly implicit, along with an increase in adverts that displayed the cigarette box but did not display someone smoking. In the pro-smoking adverts quality, flavour and cost were amongst the most utilised messages to promote tobacco products, whilst anti-smoking adverts focused on a health message. Study three involved qualitative content analysis of the pro smoking adverts and highlighted three key themes: choice; positive aspects of the brand and adverts functioning to consolidate the identity of a smoker as positive. This analysis also demonstrated the importance of the historical context in which the adverts were published. Study 4 was an interview study with consumers and ex-consumers of tobacco products, aged over seventy, and illustrated a key role for a cost benefit analysis between present gains and future risks and the role of identity in smoking. Finally, study 5 was an interview study with the sellers of tobacco products, and highlighted the perceived influences on smoking behaviour and the tripartite roles of the newsagent in relation to cigarette sales. Overall, the five studies offer several explanations for the delay between research and policy and highlight a key role for identity, the credibility of evidence and social norms. Further the results suggest that the positive images sold by tobacco advertising, combined with the sole focus on health messages in the anti-smoking advertising, as well as the focus of smokers on the here and now, rather than the risks of the future all provide an explanation for why the decline in smoking was slower than one may have expected, despite the evidence linking it to disease. These findings are discussed in the context of theories of persuasion and behaviour change and the reasons why scientific knowledge is not sufficient to change either policy or individual behaviour

An Investigation of the Impact of Science and the Media on Smoking Behaviour from 1950 to the Present Day.

This thesis aimed to explore possible mechanisms behind the delay between research in the 1950s linking smoking to disease and the 2007 United Kingdom public smoking ban, with a focus on scientific knowledge, advertising and the views of consumers and those who sell tobacco products. This thesis consists of five studies using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first study used a bibliometric analysis to evaluate the citation patterns of four key papers published by Doll and Hill, in the 1950s. The results showed that the original Doll and Hill paper, published in 1950 consistently received the highest number of citations of the four papers analysed, with citations increasing drastically between the 1990s and 2000s. All four papers analysed were most commonly cited in research articles in The Lancet and The British Medical Journal. The second study involved a quantitative content analysis of 240 pro and anti-tobacco advertisements published in the UK between 1950 and 2003. The results showed that throughout the decades, pro-smoking adverts became increasingly implicit, along with an increase in adverts that displayed the cigarette box but did not display someone smoking. In the pro-smoking adverts quality, flavour and cost were amongst the most utilised messages to promote tobacco products, whilst anti-smoking adverts focused on a health message. Study three involved qualitative content analysis of the pro smoking adverts and highlighted three key themes: choice; positive aspects of the brand and adverts functioning to consolidate the identity of a smoker as positive. This analysis also demonstrated the importance of the historical context in which the adverts were published. Study 4 was an interview study with consumers and ex-consumers of tobacco products, aged over seventy, and illustrated a key role for a cost benefit analysis between present gains and future risks and the role of identity in smoking. Finally, study 5 was an interview study with the sellers of tobacco products, and highlighted the perceived influences on smoking behaviour and the tripartite roles of the newsagent in relation to cigarette sales. Overall, the five studies offer several explanations for the delay between research and policy and highlight a key role for identity, the credibility of evidence and social norms. Further the results suggest that the positive images sold by tobacco advertising, combined with the sole focus on health messages in the anti-smoking advertising, as well as the focus of smokers on the here and now, rather than the risks of the future all provide an explanation for why the decline in smoking was slower than one may have expected, despite the evidence linking it to disease. These findings are discussed in the context of theories of persuasion and behaviour change and the reasons why scientific knowledge is not sufficient to change either policy or individual behaviour

Reflections on a study of responses to research on smoking: a pragmatic, pluralist variation on a qualitative psychological theme

The development of qualitative research within psychology has been characterised in recent years by fragmentation. Responses to this have emerged with the popularity of a flexible, pragmatic approach in the form of thematic analysis and with the advocacy of a pluralist approach in which the achievement of rich, deep analyses through the use of several qualitative methods in conjunction has been prioritised. This article draws upon a study of responses to research on the health implications of smoking to illustrate how a pragmatic, pluralist approach can work within qualitative psychological research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three participant groups: smokers, ex-smokers and, as key informants on cigarette consumption behaviours, newsagent staff. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis from phenomenological, discourse analytic and narrative analytic perspectives within an epistemological macro-stance of critical realism. Analyses are presented of participants’ representations of decision-making about smoking in cost-benefit terms. A pragmatic, pluralist approach to qualitative psychology is advocated but its challenges are also noted