Potential Behavioral Responses After a Hypothetical Ban on Tobacco Price Promotions Among U.S. Adults Who Use...

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control includes tobacco price promotion bans as a part of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy. The authors examined how U.S. adults who use commercial tobacco would react to a hypothetical national ban on tobacco price promotions.

Data were from a cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (aged ≥21 years) between March and May 2024. Participants who used discount coupons and price promotions during the 12 months prior to the survey and were currently using commercial tobacco (N=608) reported whether they would engage in a list of behaviors more frequently to save money on tobacco (e.g., buying a cheaper brand, quitting tobacco and E-cigarette use) in the case of a national ban on tobacco discount coupons and price promotions. Weighted prevalence of these behaviors and predicted marginal probabilities by demographics were estimated.

Among U.S. adults who used tobacco discount coupons and promotions, 33.1% reported that they would quit using tobacco and E-cigarettes in response to a nationwide ban on tobacco price promotions. However, 95.9% reported that they would engage in tobacco expenditure minimizing strategies more frequently (e.g., finding less expensive places to buy cigarettes or E-cigarettes=73.0%, purchasing by bulk=58.7%, using a cheaper form of tobacco=38.7%). The probabilities of engaging in these strategies varied somewhat by demographics.

Although a national ban on tobacco price promotions may promote tobacco use cessation, most adults who used tobacco price promotions would increase tobacco expenditure minimizing strategies use to continue commercial tobacco use, highlighting the importance of simultaneously addressing shifts in tobacco expenditure minimizing strategies use.