Content analysis of IQOS direct mail and email marketing in the US

Abstract

Objective: Novel nicotine and tobacco products, including heated tobacco products (HTPs) like IQOS, are growing in global popularity. IQOS was the first HTP authorized for sale by the US Food and Drug Administration, entering the US market in 2019 and being removed in 2021 due to patent-related legal challenges, with the possibility of returning in 2024. Direct marketing is one method tobacco companies use to reach consumers of these products. The purpose of this study was to investigate the content of US IQOS direct mail and email marketing. Methods: Direct marketing items were collected between September 2019 and July 2021 by seven team members in the first US IQOS test market, Atlanta, Georgia. Results: Overall, 101 marketing items were collected, 59 of which were unique. Among the unique items that showed images of persons (“models”), 70 % showed models appearing to be from racial/ethnic minoritized groups, 86.8 % showed at least one female-presenting model, and 37.5 % showed models appearing to be young adults (18–29 years). Items often had an embedded link/URL (91.5 %) and mentioned topics such as online services (54.2 %; for example, online ordering and tutorials), user experience (49.2 %), social media (44.1 %), and purchasing locations (37.3 %). When examined for their main purpose, items focused on subjects such as store experience (37.7 %), product introduction (18.6 %), and product use (15.3 %). Conclusions: Our study highlights the importance of better understanding how novel tobacco products are marketed, which can inform policymakers’ regulatory efforts and product authorization decisions.

Keywords

• Tobacco
• Marketing
• Heated tobacco products
• Direct marketing
• IQOS
• Email/mail marketing