# Countering E-cigarette Marketing in the Retail Environment among Adolescents and Young Adults

> **NIH NIH R00** · BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL · 2024 · $248,968

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ ABSTRACT
Despite significant efforts to limit youth from accessing and using electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), many
adolescents and young adults are directly purchasing e-cigarettes from brick-and mortar retail stores. Studies
show that pervasive e-cigarette marketing in the retail environment such as e-cigarette product displays,
location/size of advertising, and price incentives and coupons, increase adolescent e-cigarette susceptibility
and actual use. However, studies have not directly asked adolescents and young adults to identify appealing
and influential characteristics of e-cigarette marketing in the retail environment that impact their e-cigarette
purchase and use intentions. Such data will support the FDA’s aim of understanding marketing influences on
youth tobacco use and will inform the development of communications to prevent e-cigarette use through a
counter-marketing lesson, addressing appealing e-cigarette marketing characteristics in the retail environment.
The proposed project will address three Specific Aims towards the development of a counter-marketing lesson
and regulatory solutions: (1) Examine adolescents’ and young adults’ descriptions of e-cigarette marketing in
the retail environment and its influence on their e-cigarette purchase and use behavior. (2) Identify the most
important, appealing characteristics intrinsic to e-cigarette marketing in the retail environment influencing
adolescents’ and young adults’ intentions to purchase and use e-cigarettes. (3) AIM 3. Develop and evaluate
the effectiveness of an e-cigarette counter-marketing lesson combating marketing in the retail environment to
reduce intent to use and actual use of e-cigarettes among adolescents. In the K99 phase, focus group
discussions (Aim 1) and surveys including an embedded discrete-choice experiment (Aim 2) will identify how
and which e-cigarette marketing characteristics influence adolescent and young adult e-cigarette purchase and
use. Aims 1 and 2 will identify which characteristics require counter-marketing and would benefit from
strengthened regulation. In the R00 phase, a randomized controlled trial will randomly assign adolescents-only
to one of two conditions: 1) an online counter-marketing lesson about e-cigarette marketing in the retail
environment (developed in this phase) or 2) an existing online e-cigarette overview lesson to assess influence
on adolescents' intent to use and actual use of e-cigarettes (Aim 3). This Award and proposed research will
enable the PI to grow expertise in impactful e-cigarette prevention programs and policy solutions to reduce
adolescent tobacco use, a long-term goal. A training plan involving mentorship from multidisciplinary tobacco
control experts in tobacco prevention, marketing, policy, survey design, statistical methods and counter-
marketing design, and complementary didactic training will fill gaps in knowledge of tobacco regulatory science
and vital research skills, allowing the ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10818673
- **Project number:** 4R00CA267477-03
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** SHIVANI MATHUR GAIHA
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $248,968
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2024-01-01 → 2027-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10818673

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10818673, Countering E-cigarette Marketing in the Retail Environment among Adolescents and Young Adults (4R00CA267477-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10818673. Licensed CC0.

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