Research paper Tob Control: first published as 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053212 on 9 November 2016. Downloaded from Tobacco industry use of flavourings to promote smokeless tobacco products Ganna Kostygina,1 Pamela M Ling1,2 1Center for Tobacco Control ABSTRACT engineer fruit-flavoured tobacco products. An ana- Research and Education, UCSF, Background While fruit, candy and alcohol lysis of candy and tobacco products found some San Francisco, California, USA. 2 characterising flavours are not allowed in cigarettes in tobacco products contained higher levels of flavour Division of General Internal 9 Medicine, Department of the USA, other flavoured tobacco products such as chemicals than candy. Medicine, UCSF, San Francisco, smokeless tobacco (ST) continue to be sold. We The 2009 US Family Smoking Prevention and California, USA. investigated tobacco manufacturers’ use of flavoured Tobacco Control Act prohibited candy, fruit, additives in ST products, the target audience(s) for alcohol and spice characterising flavours in cigar- Correspondence to fl fl Dr Pamela M Ling, University avoured products, and marketing strategies promoting ettes, as avours make cigarettes easier to smoke 10–13 of California, San Francisco, products by emphasising their flavour. and increase youth appeal. ST was not Box 1390, 530 Parnassus Methods Qualitative analysis of internal tobacco included in this regulation. Additional research is Avenue, Suite 366, industry documents triangulated with data from national needed to better understand the role of flavours in San Francisco, CA94143-1390, USA; [email protected] newspaper articles, trade press and internet. smokeless products. We analysed previously secret Results Internally, flavoured products have been tobacco industry documents from RJ Reynolds Received 30 May 2016 consistently associated with young and inexperienced (RJR), Brown & Williamson (B&W), Philip Morris Accepted 7 September 2016 tobacco users. Internal studies confirmed that candy-like (PM), British American Tobacco, Lorillard, US sweeter milder flavours (eg, mint, fruit) could increase Smokeless Tobacco Company (USST, formerly US appeal to starters by evoking a perception of mildness, Tobacco Company) related to the development and blinding the strong tobacco taste and unpleasant mouth marketing of flavoured smokeless products (includ- feel; or by modifying nicotine delivery by affecting ing moist snuff, snus, loose leaf and chewing product pH. tobacco) in the USA to answer the following Discussion Similar to cigarettes, flavoured ST is likely research questions: How and why did tobacco man- to encourage novices to start using tobacco, and ufacturers use flavoured additives in ST products?; regulations limiting or eliminating flavours in cigarettes Who were the target audiences for flavoured ST copyright. should be extended to include flavoured ST products. products?; What was the function of flavours in ST, and how did the use of flavours affect ST patterns of use?; What marketing strategies were used to fl INTRODUCTION promote avoured ST brands? Flavour may be defined as the blend of taste and smell sensations Smokeless tobacco (ST) products include moist 14 snuff (including portion pouch products such as evoked by a substance in the mouth. For this study, we included any natural or artificial candy, snus), chewing tobacco, dry snuff, and loose leaf or http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ scrap. As cigarette sales in the USA continue to fruit, alcohol, herb (eg, menthol, wintergreen) and fl decline, sales of moist snuff (the most popular type spice avourings or substances added to tobacco to ‘ ’ of ST) increased by 65.6% between 2005 and alter or enhance its taste, including sweet or sugar fl 2011.1 The growth in ST sales may be due in part avouring. to flavoured products: sales of flavoured moist snuff products increased 72.1% between 2005 and METHODS 2011 and contributed to ∼60% of the growth in We searched tobacco industry document archives the moist snuff category overall.1 Currently, Skoal, from the University of California, San Francisco the most popular ST brand among youth, offers Truth Tobacco Documents Library, between – over 20 line extensions with flavourings.2 4 November 2010 and April 2011. The searches Flavoured products tend to contain lower levels of were repeated and extended between August 2011 on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected free nicotine and pH,35features of ‘starter’ pro- and August 2014. Initial search terms included ducts. Therefore, the abundance of flavoured pro- ‘flavour’, ‘flavour*’, ‘other tobacco products’, ‘fla- ducts raises concerns about youth initiation.6 voured smokeless’, ‘new users’, ‘starters’, ‘youth’, Research on the tobacco industry’s use of fla- etc. These searches yielded thousands of docu- vours in ST to attract new users is limited. Prior ments; those related to flavoured ST use among studies used previously secret tobacco industry youth and new users were selected. Searches were documents to determine whether tobacco manufac- focused using standard techniques.15 Further turers used flavours in cigarettes to promote initi- ‘snowball’ searches for contextual information were ation,7 how nicotine content in ‘starter’ smokeless conducted using product types, brand names, docu- brands was manipulated to appeal to novices,5 or ment locations, dates and reference (Bates) developed ST products to encourage initiation of numbers. The analysis was based on a collection of smokeless use among smokers.8 A recent study by 432 documents. We reviewed the documents, orga- To cite: Kostygina G, Brown et al9 found that the same flavour chemicals nised them chronologically and thematically, and Ling PM. Tob Control that are used in popular brands of candy, such as identified common themes. Information from – 2016;25:ii40 ii49. Jolly Rancher candies or Life Savers, are used to industry documents was triangulated with outside ii40 Kostygina G, Ling PM. Tob Control 2016;25:ii40–ii49. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053212 Research paper Tob Control: first published as 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053212 on 9 November 2016. Downloaded from sources, including a review of brand websites between 2012 and greatest acceptance among 18–30 years old.86 87 The advertising 2013, materials archived at the Rutgers Trinkets and Trash stated it was “for you, fellows, just starting out”; and “mild and website, and a convenience sample of 12 news stories in trade flavourful…just right for new users”, “a great way to start going press and national newspapers. smokeless”.44 46 48 88 In addition to youth appeal, the key stra- tegic functions of flavourings in ST are summarised in table 2. RESULTS USST subsequently collaborated with Swedish Tobacco Early interest in flavoured smokeless tobacco products Company in the early 1970s using a joint company, United 50 51 89 90 Smokeless products with flavours such as peach, apple, honey- Scandia International, to develop a new mildly fla- dew, strawberry, pineapple, honeysuckle, champagne and prune voured product for ‘new users, mainly cigarette smokers, age 51 date back to the 1870s.16 In 1934, the first wintergreen- group 15–35’. The product was also packaged in ‘paper bags’/ 51 flavoured chewing tobacco product (Skoal moist snuff) was portions for easier use. The targeted groups for this product introduced by USST.17 18 In the 1960s, flavours became more included male and female smokers and “new users…mainly important as USST recognised that 58% of ST users were young consumers who have not made their choice between dif- 91 55 years of age or older, and aimed to revive the declining ferent ways of using nicotine…” In 1973–1974, USST 52 smokeless market by targeting young males.19 An article entitled launched this mint-flavoured product branded as ‘Good Luck’. The Puzzling, Irksome, Exciting Youth Market (1973) published The marketing campaign strategy emphasised innovation, con- in a USST internal/external magazine stated, “…youth is such a venience and promoted a sense of social belonging to address 24 91 big market that no business, geared to continuous growth—and psychological factors important to young consumers. what business isn’t?—can ignore it…How can you afford to Advertisements explained: “the pouch works like a tea bag; the 42 ignore a consumer segment, when it is multiplying flavour seeps out, but the tobacco stays in place in the mouth”. two-and-a-half times as fast as the rest of the population?”20 Free samples of Good Luck were distributed to encourage trial 92 Louis F Bantle, then vice president for marketing at USST, and conversion, and intended to serve as a ‘gradual introduc- 93 said in a 1968 marketing meeting: “We must sell the use of tion’ to USST’s ‘more traditional moist ST products’. tobacco in the mouth and appeal to young people…we hope to In 1979, Conwood tobacco company introduced, start a fad”.21 One strategy for attracting new customers was to wintergreen-flavoured Hawken, which reached more new users 54 conduct experimental studies to test new flavours—‘a vital sales than Happy Days, including some as young as 9 years old. In factor’,21 22 and research conducted for USST found that com- response, USST re-evaluated Happy Days and Good Luck munications stressing taste, flavour and freshness were ‘most flavour, packaging and even the brand names, which the successful in inviting trial’ of ST.23 company felt failed to project a masculine exciting image appealing to younger users.25 In 1983, USST launched ‘Skoal In addition, researchers at USST and at RJR tobacco company copyright. 89 (which produced smokeless products at the time) recognised Bandits’ targeted towards new users, mainly cigarette smokers. that flavours could increase appeal to initiates by helping Skoal Bandits was mint-flavoured and packed in single-portion decrease strong tobacco taste (or ‘bite’), unpleasant mouth feel pouches, and flavour was ‘one of the key concepts in this new (burning or irritation of the lip and gum) and decreasing saliva product’ to ease initiation and appeal to young adults seeking 55 56 59 60 94 flow resulting in the need to expectorate, nausea, and floating novelty.