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Cigarette Smoking Decision Study

NCT04595279 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 37

Last updated 2025-06-15

Study results available
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Summary

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act granted the FDA the authority to regulate and restrict tobacco advertising tactics that inaccurately convey reduced product risk, yet there is a dearth of up-to-date regulatory science to inform such regulations. Although the FDA has restricted use of descriptors such as "natural" and "additive-free," research shows that the tobacco industry quickly pivoted to increase use of alternative, unregulated tactics. Greenwashing is one increasingly common tobacco marketing strategy in which products are portrayed as eco-friendly and/or natural. The investigators' preliminary research indicates that greenwashing tactics may inaccurately convey modified product risk to consumers. The overarching objective of this project is to test the effect of greenwashing methods used by cigarette companies to market products on actual smoking behavior in a controlled laboratory study. The investigators' proposed research focuses on young adults (age 18-29), because this is a key age for smoking initiation and escalation, and research has found that young adults may be more susceptible than older adults to greenwashing in cigarette ads. This study will test the effect of greenwashing on behavioral economic demand and smoking topography in a laboratory-controlled cigarette self-administration study. These data will clearly connect tobacco advertising features to product risk perceptions and actual smoking behavior. This work will provide FDA with an integrated set of evidence that identifies misleading greenwashing tactics that inaccurately convey modified product risk which can be used to inform regulatory action regarding restrictions of this type of advertising.

Conditions

  • Tobacco Smoking

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Smoking sessions

Participants undergo topography and behavioral economic sessions where they can make choices to earn cigarette puffs by pulling plungers on experimental equipment

Sponsors & Collaborators

Principal Investigators

  • Matthew W Johnson, Ph.D. · Professor

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
29 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-08-18
Primary Completion
2024-03-22
Completion
2024-03-22

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04595279 on ClinicalTrials.gov