Anne Marie MacKintosh

Adolescent drinking ‐ the role of designer drinks

Shows that adolescent drinking varies considerably between the ages of 12 and 17, with 14 and 15‐year‐olds marking a key group whose members are keen to test their limits with alcohol and drink to intoxication but who do not necessarily enjoy the process of drinking. They dislike the taste of alcohol and the amount which needs to be drunk to reach intoxication. Designer drinks have particular characteristics that meet the needs of this group by minimizing the costs and maximizing the effects of drinking. The brand image of designer drinks matches the perceptions and expectations of 14 and 15‐year‐old drinkers, while 16 and 17‐year‐olds view these drinks as “immature”. Furthermore, consumption of these drinks is linked to heavier drinking. Concludes that these results have implications for health promotion at an individual and environmental level, with a need to educate young people about the hazards of designer drinks, address the semiotic implications of designer drinks and lobby against these drinks.

Effect of tobacco loyalty programmes on low-income smokers

The tobacco industry sustains itself in two ways: by maximizing the number of people who start smoking and by minimizing the number who stop. The health lobby has placed much emphasis upon understanding how the industry uses marketing techniques to recruit new smokers, particularly underage smokers; yet, given that it costs the industry less to keep existing customers than it does to find new ones, there is a strong case for expanding the scope of current investigations to establish the marketing techniques used to maintain the existing customer base. This study focuses on one such technique, the tobacco loyalty programme. It examines the impact of loyalty programmes on low-income smokers, since the evidence indicates that the cessation rates in this group are particularly low.

Smoking in disadvantaged communities: Assessing motivation and ability to quit

For several years, tobacco control organizations have advocated price manipulation by raising taxes on tobacco products as a strategy for promoting smoking cessation.Data from several countries have shown a direct correlation between price and consumption (e.g. European Bureau for action on Smoking Prevention, 1992; Townsend et al. 1994): when price rises, consumption decreases, and vice versa. Recent evidence suggests, however, that price rises may be ineffective among the poorest smokers (Marsh & McKay, 1994). The decreases in prevalence that have occurred in all other sections of the population have not occurred in the poorest groups, who continue to smoke at the same rate as 20 years ago (Figure 1).