New tobacco products, old advertising strategies: point-of-sale advertising in Guatemala

Abstract

ObjectiveCapsule cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heated tobacco products (HTPs) are now readily available in Guatemala. As in most countries, the point-of-sale (POS) remains an important marketing channel for the tobacco industry. Therefore, we sought to characterise the POS marketing of these products in the two largest cities in Guatemala.MethodsConvenience stores were randomly surveyed in mid and high socioeconomic status (SES) neighbourhoods in Guatemala City (n=60) and Quetzaltenango (n=15) in 2019. We adapted a previously implemented checklist to assess the availability of interior advertising of capsule cigarettes, e-cigarettes and HTP. Data entry was done in Kobo toolbox and analysis in STATA.ResultsAll stores sold conventional and flavoured capsule cigarettes, 78% e-cigarettes and 68% HTP. Most cigarette advertising was for capsule cigarettes. E-cigarettes were more likely to be sold in Guatemala City (96%) than in Quetzaltenango (13%). HTPs were only found in Guatemala City (85%), with no difference between high and medium SES neighbourhoods. Median number of ads for cigarettes and capsule cigarettes was higher in the high SES neighbourhood. Most e-cigarettes (83%) and HTP (74%) were found <50 cm from candy. E-cigarettes and HTP were available in a wide range of flavours. All stores that sold HTP had flavoured HEETS (amber, bronze, turquoise, yellow, blue and purple).ConclusionWe found a high prevalence of advertising for capsule cigarettes, e-cigarettes and HTP at the POS. The POS, a crucial advertising channel for the tobacco industry, is now being used for new products and therefore needs to be urgently regulated.

Marketing of flavour capsule cigarettes: a systematic review

“…A total of 40 articles, published between 2009 and 2021, were included in the review (table 1). Article types varied and included 17 full manuscripts,10 24–39 4 brief reports,40–43 4 conference abstracts,44–47 2 reports,1 48 7 ‘industry watch’ publications,2 3 49–53 2 ‘ad watch’ publications,54 55 3 special communications20 56 57 and 1 research letter 58. Nine studies examined FCV marketing elements globally/generally or did not specify countries,1–3 28–30 32 34 46 50 while other studies investigated specific countries including: Argentina,45 48 Australia,56 Bangladesh,27 43 Bolivia,45 48 Brazil,27 43–45 48 Canada,41 58 Chile,45 48 China,27 38 43 Egypt,43 Guatemala,40 Lithuania,31 India,27 43 Indonesia,24 27 43 44 Japan,31 54 Malaysia,51 Mexico,10 35 43 47 New Zealand,42 Pakistan,43 Peru,45 48 the Philippines,26 27 43 44 the Republic of Korea,31 33 54 55 the Russian Federation,27 43 44 Singapore,37 Switzerland,31 Thailand,27 43 44 Turkey,43 Ukraine,43 the UK,20 39 49 52 53 57 the USA,31 35 36 Uruguay25 and Vietnam 27 43 44…”

“…Regarding study methodology, 15 studies performed a content analysis of cigarette packs1 24 26 33–35 37 41 45 46 50 55 56 58 and/or sticks33 37 41 43 46; 4 studies conducted a content analysis of retail stores25 40 47 48; 18 studies reviewed tobacco industry documents (eg, internal, reports, trade/retail press, ingredient lists), and/or observed the retail environment and/or examined the commercial market data (eg, market portfolio, brand variants, price)1–3 20 29–32 34 39 42 49 52–57; 3 studies conducted a content analysis of print and/or online tobacco advertising and marketing information28 36 38; and 1 study used a cross-sectional survey design10 (table 1).…”

Cross-sectional study on the awareness, susceptibility and use of heated tobacco products among adolescents in Guatemala City, Guatemala

“…We investigated HTP use among adolescents in private schools in Guatemala City, where HTPs are becoming readily available. 36 About half of the students were aware of HTPs (54.2%) and susceptible to future use of HTPs (54.2%), although ever (but not current) HTP use (8.4%) and current HTP use (2.9%) were low compared with smoking (21.0% and 8.7%, respectively) and e-cigarette use (28.3% and 27.7%, respectively). Furthermore, almost none of the students who had ever used any tobacco product reported using HTPs as their first tobacco product (1.5%), and nearly all current HTP users also either smoked cigarettes (52.4%) or used e-cigarettes (92.9%).…”

Flavour capsule cigarette use and perceptions: a systematic review

“…14 16 49 In many Latin American cities, flavour capsule cigarettes are ubiquitously available for purchase and heavily marketed at the point of sale, notably at retailers located close to schools. [49][50][51][52] The high prevalence of capsule use identified in South Korea 30 is likely driven by similar marketing strategies. 20 Flavour capsule cigarettes were consistently most appealing to and consumed by young people, which mirrored perceptions around the presumed target audience of these products, 28 44-47 and also aligns with research on other flavoured tobacco products.…”

“…38 Regulatory attention should also be paid to point-of-sale advertising, which has been a particularly prominent channel used to promote flavour capsule cigarettes. 50 This is the first systematic review on flavour capsule cigarettes and includes both quantitative and qualitative studies, but outcome measures and populations varied across studies and comparing across studies should be done with caution. This further stymied our ability to conduct a meta-analysis.…”