Background Noncommunicable diseases contribute to over 70% of global deaths each year. Efforts to address this epidemic are complicated by the presence of powerful corporate actors. Despite this, few attempts have been made to synthesize existing evidence of the strategies used to advance corporate interests across industries. Given this, our study seeks to answer the questions: 1) Is there an emergent taxonomy of strategies used by the tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) industries to expand corporate autonomy? 2) How are these strategies similar and how are they different? Methods Under the guidance of a framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley, a scoping review was carried out whereby six databases were searched in June 2021 to identify relevant peer-reviewed literature. To be included in this review, studies had to explicitly discuss the strategies used by the tobacco, alcohol, and/or sugar-sweetened beverage multinational corporations and be considered review articles aimed to synthesize existing evidence from at least one of the three industries. Eight hundred and fifty-eight articles were selected for full review and 59 articles were retained for extraction, analysis, and categorization. Results Results identified six key strategies the industries used: 1) influencing government policy making and implementation, 2) challenging unfavorable science, 3) creating a positive image, 4) manipulating markets, 5) mounting legal challenges, and 6) anticipating future scenarios. Despite these similarities, there are few but important differences. Under the strategy of influencing government policy making and implementation, for example, literature showed that the alcohol and SSB industries have been “privileged with high levels of participation” within international public health organizations. Conclusions Understanding how industries resist efforts to control them is important for public health advocates working to reduce consumption of and death and diseases resulting from harmful commodities. Moreover, there is a greater need for the public health community to generate consensus about how to ethically engage or not engage with industries that produce unhealthy commodities. More studies are also needed to build the evidence base of industry tactics to resist regulation, particularly in the case of SSB, and in low-and middle-income countries.

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Introduction Cigarette advertising is a causal agent of smoking uptake among young people. Although prior research links ad receptivity to tobacco product interest and use, little is known regarding the specific advertising tactics associated with increased product appeal among young people. Methods A national sample of 13-20 year-olds (N=3,688, youth) and 21-24 year-olds (N=1,556, young adults) in the United States participated in an online survey in 2017 (mean age 18.1 years). The majority (72.0%) of youth and nearly half (44.8%) of young adults were never smokers. Participants were shown a cigarette ad, randomly assigned from a pool of 50 advertisements, and reported how much they liked the ad, and were curious about and interested in using the advertised product. All 50 advertisements were content analyzed for a variety of features. Data from the survey and content analysis were merged and mixed effects analyses used to identify the features associated with increased liking, curiosity, and interest in using, referred to collectively as product appeal. Results Presence of a sweepstakes offer was associated with increased liking, curiosity and interest among youth and curiosity and interest among young adults. Outdoors settings, flora imagery, natural descriptors, and environmental themes were associated with increased appeal. Price reductions (e.g., coupons) were associated with decreased appeal among youth. Conclusions This study identified several advertising tactics associated with increased appeal among youth and young adults. If additional research confirms these findings, the U.S. Food and Drug Association should consider restricting use of these tactics in tobacco advertising.

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Background In 2015, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration issued warning letters to three tobacco companies regarding use of the terms “natural” and/or “additive-free” to describe their products, as these terms inaccurately convey reduced harm. Yet, tobacco companies engage in a variety of alternate techniques to attempt to convey the same “natural” (and thus reduced harm) message. It is critical to monitor these practices to inform regulatory action. Objective To describe the marketing techniques used in Natural American Spirit (American Spirit) ads that could convey a natural and less harmful product image. Methods Trained coders content analyzed 142 American Spirit ads from 2010 – 2015. Results In addition to use of the terms “natural” and “additive-free,” American Spirit ads engage in a variety of other linguistic and iconic techniques that could convey reduced harm, such as references to small, local, or organic farming, eco-friendly practices, and plant, farming, and other nature-related imagery. Conclusions American Spirit ads use a wide range of marketing techniques to convey a natural product image, which could subsequently communicate reduced harm.