Changes in roll-your-own tobacco and cigarette sales volume and prices before, during and after plain packaging legislation in the UK

Bretón, Magdalena Opazo; Britton, John; Bogdanovica, Ilze

doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054734

Cited by 12 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…In our previous studies using Nielsen Scantrack data we demonstrated that plain packaging legislation was associated with an increase in price for both cigarettes [3] and RYO tobacco [10] above the expected tax increase and inflation. However, our results on purchase and price trends for legal pack sizes presented here have shown that even though consumers switched to bigger pack size cigarette products, they paid a lower average price per cigarette, closer to that of the 11 to 19 cigarette packs available before the new policy was implemented, by moving down by one price quartile to cheaper products.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on a previous study [10], we used purchases of minimum plain pack sizes (20 cigarettes or 30 grams of RYO per pack) as a proxy marker for plain package sales. To define successive stages of the extent of purchasing of minimum plain pack sizes, which increased gradually during the implementation period [3,10] we created a policy implementation variable with the following categories: before May 2016, 0 to 6 months after May 2016, 7 to 12 months after May 2016, and more than 12 months after May 2016.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…KWP is a longitudinal panel of approximately 30 000 households recruited using stratified sampling to be representative of the population of Great Britain in relation to region, household size, age of main shopper and socioeconomic status, who use barcode scanners to scan receipts for all online and off-line purchases brought into the home (non-barcode purchases can also be included). More details of the dataset have been provided elsewhere [8,9]. For this study we had access to the 11 695 households who provided data indicating that they had purchased cigarettes, RYO tobacco, cigars/cigarillos and pipe tobacco, electronic cigarettes (ecigarettes) and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).…”

Section: Data Sources and Research Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of UK plain tobacco packaging and minimum pack size legislation on tobacco and nicotine product switching behaviour

2020

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Background and aims The introduction of plain tobacco packaging and minimum pack size legislation in the United Kingdom between May 2016 and May 2017 was accompanied by substantial changes in tobacco product diversity and pricing. This study investigates the extent to which these changes were associated with consumer switching between tobacco product types and price segments, and from tobacco to non‐tobacco nicotine products. Design Longitudinal study (changing trends in product and price choices) and survey (reasons for consumer choices). Setting Great Britain Participants We used 11 695 British households from Kantar Worldpanel who purchased tobacco and non‐tobacco nicotine products from March 2011 to December 2017. Measurements Product choice was defined using household's monthly purchases of tobacco (cigarettes, roll‐your‐own (RYO) tobacco, cigar/cigarillo and pipe tobacco) and non‐tobacco nicotine products (e‐cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapy), while price was defined using price paid by pack size and by price quartiles. Our switching analysis considered three switching alternatives: switching to a different tobacco product or to a combination of tobacco products, switching to any non‐nicotine tobacco product, and switching out of our dataset. We explored changes in price quartile purchasing behaviour using binary variables for whether a household purchased or not from each price quartile monthly. Finally, self‐declared consumer's choice was assessed through survey responses. Findings The introduction of plain packaging and minimum pack sizes coincided with major switching to purchasing of pack sizes of 20 cigarettes or 30 g or larger RYO tobacco (>99% of purchases in December 2017) and a migration towards lower‐price cigarettes, as for cigarettes, around 80% of purchases were in the lowest price quartiles at the end of the study period compared to about 50% at the start of the study period. During the first 6 months of implementation there was also a marked increase in the likelihood that cigarette smokers would switch to non‐tobacco nicotine (OR 1.74, 95% CI: 1.18 to 2.57), predominantly e‐cigarettes, compared with the period before May 2016. Survey results suggest that price was the main driver of changes in purchasing behaviour. Conclusions Implementation of plain packaging and minimum pack size legislation in the UK appears to have been associated with tobacco users switching to lower price tobacco products and to e‐cigarettes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Sources and Research Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of UK plain tobacco packaging and minimum pack size legislation on tobacco and nicotine product switching behaviour

2020

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“…This also follows previous literature that has used similar data. [13][14][15] FM products were classified as being in either 'fully branded packaging' which is the old-style colourful packaging sold in a variety of stick sizes, or standardised packaging 19 which was introduced in the UK between May 2016 and May 2017. Branded packaging could further be either price-marked (price printed on the packaging) or non-price-marked.…”

Section: Nielsen Scantrak Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantile regression of tobacco tax pass-through in the UK 2013–2019. How have manufacturers passed through tax changes for different tobacco products?

et al. 2020

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BackgroundThe effectiveness of tax increases relies heavily on the tobacco industry passing on such increases to smokers (also referred to as ‘pass-through’). Previous research has found heterogeneous levels of tax pass-through across the market segments of tobacco products available to smokers. This study uses retail sales data to assess the extent to which recent tax changes have been passed on to smokers and whether this varies across the price distribution.MethodsWe use panel data quantile regression analysis on Nielsen commercial data of tobacco price and sales in the UK from January 2013 to March 2019 combined with official UK tax rates and inflation to calculate the rate of tax pass-through for factory made (FM) cigarettes and roll your own (RYO) tobacco.ResultsFollowing increases in the specific tax payable on tobacco, we find evidence of overshifting across the price distribution for both FM and RYO. The rate of the overshift in tax increased the more expensive the products were. This was consistent for FM and RYO. Additionally, our findings suggest that the introduction of standardised packaging was not followed by changes in how the tobacco industry responded to tax increases.ConclusionsFollowing the repeated introduction of increases in specific tobacco tax as well as standardised packaging, we show that the tobacco industry applies techniques to keep the cheapest tobacco cheaper relative to the more expensive products when passing on tax increases to smokers.

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“…The effects of the implementation of the FCTC encouraged various countries including Australia, the UK, and France to adopt plain packaging for tobacco products [6][7][8]. The growing body of research reveals that plain packaging decreases tobacco use and sales, as well as government health costs [9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of Cigarette Plain Packaging: Triadic Reactions of Consumers, State Officials, and Tobacco Companies—The Case of Saudi Arabia

Hassounah

Al‐Zalabani

AlAhmari³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Objectives: In August 2019, Saudi Arabia started implementing plain packaging for cigarettes. Three months later, an opposing campaign on twitter using an Arabic hashtag “the new smoke” gained momentum amongst smokers. The purpose of this study is to document this opposing campaign’s timeline and describe consumers, government, and tobacco industry rhetoric. Methods: We created a timeline of the campaign events then performed online social listening of Arabic twitter hashtags related to the campaign. Results: Campaigners mainly complained of an unfavorable new taste in cigarette packs with plain packaging. The messaging developed to accusations to government entities and neighboring countries, and then after threats to boycott tobacco companies. The campaign received a significant amount of media coverage and elicited an official response from a number of Saudi government bodies, such as the Saudi Food and Drug Authority and Ministry of Commerce and Investment. Conclusion: This case points at a need for risk communication training, possible tobacco industry manipulation, and a need to gain consumer trust with evidence-based messaging techniques. The case of cigarette plain packaging adoption in Saudi Arabia serves as an example to other countries of potential consumer interaction, tobacco industry interference, and state official counter-reactions.

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Changes in roll-your-own tobacco and cigarette sales volume and prices before, during and after plain packaging legislation in the UK

Cited by 12 publications

References 14 publications

Effect of UK plain tobacco packaging and minimum pack size legislation on tobacco and nicotine product switching behaviour

Effect of UK plain tobacco packaging and minimum pack size legislation on tobacco and nicotine product switching behaviour

Quantile regression of tobacco tax pass-through in the UK 2013–2019. How have manufacturers passed through tax changes for different tobacco products?

Implementation of Cigarette Plain Packaging: Triadic Reactions of Consumers, State Officials, and Tobacco Companies—The Case of Saudi Arabia

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