‘Every space is claimed’: smokers’ experiences of tobacco denormalisation

Abstract

Over the past decade, the strategy of 'denormalising' tobacco use has become one of the cornerstones of the global tobacco control movement. Although tobacco denormalisation policies primarily affect people on the lowest rungs of the social ladder, few qualitative studies have explicitly set out to explore how smokers have experienced and responded to these legislative and social changes in attitudes towards tobacco use. Drawing on a qualitative study of interviews with 25 current and ex-smokers living in Vancouver, Canada, this paper examines the ways they interpret and respond to the new socio-political environment in which they must manage the increasingly problematised practice of tobacco smoking. Overall, while not opposed to smoking restrictions per se, study participants felt that recent legislation, particularly efforts to prohibit smoking in a variety of outdoor settings, was overly restrictive and that all public space had increasingly been 'claimed' by non-smokers. Also apparent from participants' accounts was the high degree of stigma attached to smoking. However, although the 'denormalisation' environment had encouraged several participants to quit smoking, the majority continued to smoke, raising ethical and practical questions about the value of denormalisation strategies as a way of reducing smokingrelated mortality and morbidity.

“Skittles & Red Bull is my favourite flavour”: E-cigarettes, smoking, vaping and the changing landscape of nicotine consumption amongst British teenagers – implications for the normalisation debate

“…Critics have noted, however, that this 'shaming' approach could increase stigmatisation of lower income smokers and exacerbate existing health inequalities (eg. Bayer, 2008;Bell et al, 2010aBell et al, , 2010b. Therefore we face a situation in the UK where, whilst tobacco use and cigarette smoking continue to fall, a growing market of different and more complex 'delivery systems' and 'vape' products such as e-cigarettes and e-shisha are becoming increasingly popular with some young people.…”

“…Smoke free legislation has been followed by a public health policy of responsibilisation and stigmatisation of smoking with the intention to 'denormalise' it (Bell et al, 2010a;WHO, 2008), in order to make smoking 'abnormal' and to make individual choices that have resultant personal and social costs "undesirably different" (Goffman, 1963: 15). Critics have noted, however, that this 'shaming' approach could increase stigmatisation of lower income smokers and exacerbate existing health inequalities (eg.…”

Decolonising Research Methodologies in East Arnhem Land

“…My intention was to challenge tobacco control denormalisation strategies, which had in recent years become implicated with socioeconomic discrepancies in smoking prevalence because such approaches have historically had a greater impact on the better off (Bell, McCullough, Salmon, & Bell, 2010). Evidence showed that mainstream anti-smoking interventions to reduce smoking rates amongst Indigenous peoples had not impacted effectively on smoking (Bond, Brough, Spurling, & Hayman, 2012) but had contributed to the widening of health inequalities (Feldman & Bayer, 2011).…”

Lifestyle Vaccines and Public Health: Exploring Policy Options for a Vaccine to Stop Smoking

“…In many places, smoking has been made to shift from a standard behaviour to a deviation from the norm. Increasingly, smokers themselves and not only their behaviour are seen as irresponsible, resulting in their stigmatization and social disqualification (Bell et al, 2010). On the one hand, smokers are seen as victims of an 'addiction disease'.…”