Electronic revolution in smoking

New marketing good electronic cigarette is spread in high gear in Holland. This Chinese invention just began to work up the European market, and according to experts, Dutchmen, one of the most smoking European nation, organized the trade of electronic cigarettes faster than other, providing with cigarettes its own people and neighboring states.

Nicotine toy works by the following principle: ampoules with nicotine are placed into cigarette holder in the form of cigarette and during heating nicotine inhalation occurs. There is no tobacco smoke, no smell from electronic smoking, and the organism is not exposed to the intoxication from tars. In 2007 E Smoking company opened the first store of electronic smoking in Alkmaar. In the near future it is planned to establish branch offices in Germany and in England.

The marketing director of the company Mr. Jacobs says that the sales volume increase every week. 95% of sales are carried out online, cigarettes are sent not only all over Holland, but to Great Britain. Such cigarettes are three times cheaper than usual cigarettes. Tobacco prices are very high in England, so Englishmen have possibility to save their money.

E Smoking carries out aggressive marketing politics and soon it is planned to launch advertising campaign at Holland radio. As this product does not contain tobacco, no legislative restrictions are applied to it, and everybody can smoke electronic cigarette in train, office or in restaurant.

Electronic cigarette does not differ from nicotine plasters, chewing gum or other medical supplies, which are applied is the alternative to tobacco smoking. However, this preparation has not undergone pharmacological examinations in Holland, it is still unknown whether such cigarettes are dangerous or not.

In the Netherlands any kind of pharmaceutical has certificate and registration. Confrontation between followers of healthy way of life and followers of traditional Dutch liberalism goes on. It is expected that in the country, which decriminalized light drugs and legalized prostitution, the terminal decision of tobacco question will be based on pragmatism and common sense.

Some words about smoking

In a study of adolescents who, when first interviewed, had never engaged in smoking, Pierce and colleagues found at the 3-year followup that having a favorite cigarette advertisement as well as possessing or being willing to use a tobacco promotional item at the initial interview predicted either future smoking or the increased likelihood of trying tobacco.

Unger and Chen reported that the age of smoking initiation occurred earlier among adolescents who had a favorite tobacco advertisement, had received tobacco promotional items, or were willing to use tobacco promotional items.

Research has also shown that awareness of beer commercials among fifth and sixth graders is significantly related to intentions to drink as adults, suggesting that alcohol advertising may influence adolescents to be more favorably disposed to drinking. Therefore, advertising has been found to be a potential risk factor for both smoking and drinking among adolescents.

Economic and Availability Factors Research suggests that adolescent smokers or drinkers are more likely than adults to reduce or quit smoking or drinking in response to increased cigarette or alcohol prices.

Harris and Chan found that 15- to 17-year-olds, compared with 18- to 20-year-olds, were more likely to respond to an increase in cigarette prices by quitting smoking rather than by reducing the number of cigarettes they smoked per day.

Grossman and colleagues reported price elasticities of demand for cigarettes of -1.20 for 12- to 17-year-olds and -0.15 for people older than age 35, meaning that a 10-percent increase in the price of cigarettes would lower per capita consumption for these two populations by 12 and 1.5 percent, respectively. Other research suggests that a 10-percent increase in cigarette prices would reduce the number of teens who smoke by 7 percent.

Alcohol use by young people is also more sensitive to price than drinking among adults. In one study, the price elasticity of demand for heavy drinking was -0.92 for people age 18 and older, compared with -2.24 for those between ages 18 and 21.

The authors suggest that adults respond more to increases in the potential future costs or consequences of smoking and drinking, whereas young people are more sensitive to increases in price, because future costs are less important to them and young people have more stringent budget constraints than do adults.

College students, however, may be less responsive to alcohol prices than are other groups of young people.

Chaloupka and Wechsler examined drinking data from 17,000 college students in relation to beer prices and drunk driving laws in the locations of the participating colleges.

The results suggested that college students were less responsive to alcohol prices than were other groups but that more severe drunk driving penalties tended to reduce both drinking and binge drinking. These effects were found among underage and older students, both male and female.

Tobacco firms and supermarkets face

Tobacco firms' subtle tactics lure smokers to their brand

Picture the scene: You walk into a chic bar where the clientele is young and the drinks reassuringly expensive; you note the stylish combination of red and white furniture, the impressive attention to detail that goes into everything from the cushions to the ashtrays. Suddenly, inexplicably, you urgently want to smoke a Marlboro cigarette.

It sounds the stuff of bad science fiction, but Philip Morris, the manufacturer of Marlboro, is such a believer in 'experiential' marketing - where furniture and design are used to subtly convey a brand's strengths - it has created a crack team to transform the insides of Britain's upmarket bars and music events, in an attempt to boost its profits.

As a smoking ban in England nears and tobacco advertising has been banned, cigarette companies have had to find other ways to sell their products.

Internal marketing plans, drawn up by the company last year and obtained by The Observer, show that Philip Morris offered financial incentives to managers to fill their bars with furniture bearing the Marlboro logo or place its branded ashtrays and vending machines in areas where smoking is allowed.

'Should you take up this offer [of ashtrays], Philip Morris will give you a £20 music voucher from HMV as a token of their thanks,' the marketing teams were instructed to tell the managers.

The company also experimented with subliminal ways of communicating its brand, through themed bar areas which could be put up at major social events, and did not feature the Marlboro logo or its packaging.

These 'installations', as they were called, created lounge areas by placing comfortable red sofas in front of video screens showing scenes redolent of Wild West 'Marlboro country' to convey the essence of the cigarette brand while circumnavigating sponsorship bans.

One plan Philip Morris experimented with was the use of 'chill out' smoking areas. These featured a sofa shaped like a bath, to give the impression it was an area in which smokers could relax, subtly suggesting cigarettes help people deal with stress.

'Philip Morris would pay for the installation - known as the Marlboro Motel - to be erected. That way the company could say they were paying for the right to sell cigarettes rather than sponsoring an event,' said one person familiar with the installations.

Experts said the company was not alone in trying to find new ways to communicate its brand amid severe marketing restrictions.

'All that former advertising money has to go somewhere,' said one industry insider. 'The tobacco firms are looking to create extensive "design languages" in bars and clubs and other venues through the use of particular types of furniture or material which will make people think of their brands.'

Experts said such marketing was becoming increasingly popular. 'The more subtle the message, the more likely it is to be accepted,' said Gerard Hastings, director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Center for Tobacco Control based at Stirling University.

'If you see something blatant, it forewarns you. But if it's something subliminal it will go under the radar.'

The elite teams of marketing experts were armed with scripts to use when approaching bar managers and event promoters. 'Our customers are your customers,' runs the script. 'Nearly 80 per cent of Marlboro smokers are ABC1, aged 18 to 35.'

The teams were told to stress:'Marlboro is arguably the world's best known brand after Coca-Cola.'

The project was part of a wider plan to target affluent smokers aged between 18 and 35. The company sought to secure exclusive retail rights at the 2004 Glastonbury festival, and a number of other high-profile music events where attractive female 'Marlboro models' would sell cigarettes.

Since last December all cigarette advertising is banned except small displays on vending machines.

Amanda Sanford, research director of the anti-smoking group Ash, said the marketing plans raised serious concerns. 'Cigarette advertising is going underground, it's becoming more covert. This just shows the need for greater vigilance.'

A spokeswoman for Philip Morris said the company did not to discuss its marketing plans, but added: 'We have a range of strategies to support Marlboro which, combined with the taste of the product, have helped to contribute to its success.'

Anti-tobacco advertising

Point-of-purchase tobacco environments

Field observers collected information on the presence of various POP tobacco environment features including

1) tobacco product placement (self-service versus clerk-assisted);

2) promotions (multipack/cents-off discounts and gift-with-purchase offers);

3) tobacco-branded functional objects (free items provided by the industry such as counter change mats or shopping baskets displaying the sponsoring company's logo);

4) presence and extent of exterior and interior advertisements (such as those indicating special prices);

5) presence of low-height interior advertising or advertisements directly in the line of sight of very young children (at a height of <3>

6) tobacco-control signage (including Food and Drug Administration [FDA] (ss)-or industry-sponsored signage, health warnings, or messages indicating that identification is required to purchase tobacco products).

Data were weighted to account for both the community-level multistage sampling procedures and the store selection proba bilities.

The GENMOD procedure in SAS v.8 was used to run generalized estimating equations that accounted for community clustering while specifying a binomial distribution and a logit link function. Results were expressed as unadjusted odds ratios and 95% Wald confidence intervals. For all analyses, supermarkets were used as the referent category.

Some form of tobacco POP presence (i.e., interior or exterior advertising, self-service pack placement, multipack discounts, tobacco-branded functional objects, or vending machines) was observed in 92.1% of the stores: self-service cigarette pack placement in 36.4%, multipack discounts in 25.2%, and at least one tobacco-branded functional object in 68.5%.

Most (80%) retailers displayed interior tobacco advertising; 22.8% had high levels of interior advertising (i.e., advertisements outside areas where tobacco products were sold or displayed), and 42.9% had low-height advertisements.

Exterior tobacco advertisements were observed in 58.9% of the stores, with 40.4% having high levels of exterior advertising (i.e., five or more advertisements or at least one advertisement >1 foot in any dimension).

Some form of tobacco advertising (interior or exterior) was present in 84.1% of the stores. Convenience/gas retailers were significantly more likely to have five of the six POP measures, convenience and liquor stores were significantly more likely to have four of the measures, and drug stores were significantly less likely to have two of the measures

Dunhill Zinc Ashtray with Wood Base