Trends in point-of-sale tobacco marketing around college campuses: Opportunities for enhanced tobacco control efforts

ABSTRACT

Objective: Colleges have implemented policies to limit tobacco use on-campus; however, the off-campus environment is often overlooked in tobacco control efforts. We assessed availability, marketing, and promotion of cigarettes, snus, and traditional smokeless tobacco (SLT) in a sample of communities surrounding 11 college campuses in North Carolina and Virginia. Participants: Between January-March of 2011, 2012 and 2013, 481 tobacco-selling retailers, including convenience stores, pharmacies and supermarkets, located near campuses were assessed. Methods: Trained observers completed annual point-of-sale assessments. Results: The percentage of stores selling (81.4% to 58.6%; p < .0001) and advertising snus (80.1% to 53.11%; p < .0001) significantly decreased over time. Convenience stores increased promotions of cigarettes (65.4% to 72.8%; p = 0.04) and SLT (3.1% to 23.3%; p = 0.02). Conclusions: Off-campus environments have abundant tobacco availability and marketing. Colleges should collaborate with state and local tobacco control advocates to address tobacco promotion near campuses to potentially decrease product appeal and access among young adults.

KEYWORDS:

• College
• point-of-sale
• tobacco

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Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Wake Forest School of Medicine.

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Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.