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De-marketing Tobacco Through Price Changes and Consumer Attempts Quit Smoking

  • Marketing and Consumer Behavior
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Abstract

Using panel data from three Canadian provinces, this article examines the relationship between the de-marketing of tobacco products through provincial-level price increases and consumers’ attempts to quit smoking as measured by the uptake of tobacco replacement therapies. We ground our hypotheses in the rational addiction model and the theory of planned behavior. Our analyses suggest a positive, one-month lagged effect of a price increase of tobacco products on the uptake of tobacco replacement therapies. This effect dissipates 3 months later, suggesting that there is a critical period for aggressive de-marketing of tobacco products. We discuss the implications of these results for theory and future research into de-marketing harmful consumer products.

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Acknowledgements

We thank David Abrams, Terry Beckman, Colette Hoption, and Peter Sephton for constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript, which was presented at the 18th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, New York, NY. Financial support from the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Strategic Management and Organization, School of Business, University of Alberta, T6G 2R6, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Michelle Inness

  2. School of Business, Queen’s University, K7L3N6, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    Julian Barling & Keith Rogers

  3. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba, R3T5V4, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

    Nick Turner

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  1. Michelle Inness
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  2. Julian Barling
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Correspondence to Michelle Inness.

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Inness, M., Barling, J., Rogers, K. et al. De-marketing Tobacco Through Price Changes and Consumer Attempts Quit Smoking. J Bus Ethics 77, 405–416 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9356-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9356-x

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