Effects of FDA Authorized Smokeless Tobacco Claims Among US Adults Who Smoke Cigarettes

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Tobacco Product Beliefs and Use

• Registration Number: NCT06927700
• Lead Sponsor: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Brief Summary

This study will be an online survey experiment conducted with adults who smoke cigarettes (ages 21+) to examine their reactions to modified risk advertising claims authorized by the Food \& Drug Administration (FDA) for two smokeless tobacco brands (General Snus and Copenhagen), which describe the lower risks of these products compared to cigarette smoking. The study will compare effects of ads with different two different claim types (i.e. claims about reduced lung cancer risk and claims about reduced risks for multiple disease) versus ads with no reduced-risk claims, and examine effects on message and product perceptions, and interest in using the smokeless tobacco products. This study will also examine how smokers' reactions/interest may vary based on the product brand, and asses prior awareness/exposure to the authorized claims.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2025-04-07
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-04-07
• Study First Posted: 2025-04-15
• Study Start: 2025-04-24
• Status Verified: 2025-05
• Primary Completion: 2025-05-04
• Study Completion: 2025-05-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-05-16
• Last Update Posted: 2025-05-21

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1257

Inclusion Criteria

• Adults (age 21 and over) who are current established cigarettes smokers (i.e., smoked 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and now smoke every day or somedays), based in the US, members of Ipsos' KnowledgePanel, and have chosen to complete their research panel surveys in English

Exclusion Criteria

• Panel participants who do not meet the criteria outlined above will be excluded.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Product Use Intentions	Assessed in survey measures completed immediately after viewing the study stimuli	Multi-item assessment of intentions to use the viewed smokeless tobacco products, including interest in trying the product, switching to the product, and likelihood of buying the product
Product Relative Harm/Risk Perceptions	Assessed in survey measures completed immediately after viewing the study stimuli	Multi-item assessment of perceived harm/risks from using the smokeless tobacco products viewed as compared smoking cigarettes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Message Recall	Assessed in survey measures completed immediately after viewing the study stimuli	Participants will be asked if they recall (yes/no) if the ads made any risk comparisons with cigarettes, and, if yes, to describe these in an open-ended measure, followed by an aided recall item (with correct and incorrect claim options).
Switching comprehension	Assessed in survey measures completed immediately after viewing the study stimuli	An item to assess participants' understanding of the need to completely switch to the smokeless tobacco product in order to reduce risks.
Main cause of smoking harms	Assessed in survey measures completed immediately after viewing the study stimuli	An item to explore understanding of the main source of harm from smoking cigarettes.
Add and message perceptions	Assessed in survey measures completed immediately after viewing the study stimuli	Multi-item assessments to rate the ad stimuli and modified risk claim on perceptions such as believability, credibility, importance, understandability, novelty, and perceived impact on interest in learning more about the products and wanting to use the products

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Rutgers Institute for Nicotine & Tobacco Studies; 🇺🇸 New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States