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Editorial
Who is the target? Package health warnings and the role of market segmentation
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  1. Timothy Dewhirst1,
  2. Wonkyong Beth Lee2
  1. 1 Marketing and Consumer Studies, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
  2. 2 DAN Department of Management and Organizational Studies, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Professor Timothy Dewhirst, Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, College of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada; dewhirst{at}uoguelph.ca

https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054277

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    Guidelines for implementation of Article 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control recognise that ‘it is important to assess the impact of packaging and labelling measures on the target populations,’ yet how target populations may be identified is largely unspecified.1 We have previously characterised that early tobacco control efforts are often implemented in a given jurisdiction with a mass market approach, where the total population is treated in its entirety and largely undivided, but market segmentation should be adopted over time.2 Indeed, marketing strategists normally recognise the human diversity of consumers they are attempting to influence and a segmentation strategy involves the identification of well-defined consumer subgroups who share certain common characteristics to facilitate marketing communication that is more efficient, customised and personally relevant. When people find a message personally relevant, they are more likely to pay attention and process the message more thoroughly.3

    The target market heavily affects communication decisions regarding where it will be said, what will be said, how it will be said, when it will be said and who will say it.4 Concerning where it will be said, decisions must be made about the medium of communication (eg, magazines) or the message channel of the traditional communication process.5 The cigarette package may also be regarded as a medium of communication for tobacco control efforts, with the cigarette brand serving to inform which health warnings and messages are most relevant based on the target consumer. A health warning that is more directly aimed towards women is more …

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