Investigating the first retail market for VLN cigarettes

Investigating the first retail market for VLN cigarettes

Last year, the FDA authorized the sale of the first low-nicotine cigarettes as modified-risk tobacco products, and a survey of the first retail test market in Chicago was recently published by ASPiRE’s Lisa Henriksen and co-authors. Researchers called all 133 Chicago-area Circle K stores and later visited those stores to asses VLN product placement, advertising, discounts, and prices. They found that nearly all stores displayed exterior ads for VLN cigarettes, and that some of the marketing claims were not FDA-authorized. VLN cigarettes were priced like a premium brand, and most of the stores offered discounts. “Surveillance in future test markets is recommended to assess compliance with marketing claims and examine relative price and discount offers,” the authors concluded. “Of interest is how premium-priced, low-nicotine cigarettes stand to compete in a market dominated by cheaper high-nicotine cigarettes.” Read the paper.