From: Tobacco Control
Ann McNeill,1 Belinda Iringe-Koko,2 Manpreet Bains,3 Linda Bauld,4 Geoffrey Siggens,5 and Andrew Russell6
Abstract
Background
Illicit tobacco (IT) undermines the effectiveness of tobacco control strategies. We assessed the implementation and impact of a new programme designed to reduce demand for, as well as supply of, IT, in the north of England, where IT was prevalent.
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What this paper adds
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Illicit tobacco (IT) is common in some countries, undermines tobacco control strategies, and is the subject of tobacco industry misinformation. There has been little focus on reducing IT to date, and most attention has been on supply. Using mixed-methods research, we report here a Programme designed to reduce both the demand for, as well as supply of, IT. This involved establishing a partnership of disparate agencies, consumer research, a protocol for sharing intelligence on IT across the agencies and a social marketing campaign using novel messages. Our findings indicate that the partnership was successful in improving awareness of IT, increasing the flow of intelligence on the supply of IT and developing a social marketing campaign which avoided misleading messages about the relative risks of illicit versus licit tobacco.
