Beliefs about tobacco industry (mal)practices and youth smoking behaviour: insight for future tobacco control campaigns (Canada)

Objective To examine how student beliefs about tobacco industry behaviour and marketing practices were related to occasional and regular smoking among 9th to 12th graders. These findings can provide insight for developing new tobacco industry denormalization messages for youth smoking populations. Methods Cross-sectional data were collected from 14,767 grade 9 to 12 students attending 22 secondary schools within one Public Health Region of Canada using the Tobacco Module of School Heath Action, Planning and Evaluation System (SHAPES). Logistic regression analyses were used to determine if different beliefs about tobacco companies were able to differentiate never smokers from occasional smokers, and occasional smokers from regular smokers. Results Occasional and regular smoking behaviour was significantly related to student beliefs about tobacco companies doing good things in the community, manipulating young people to think smoking is cool, advertising to youth, and using athletes and sports sponsorships to get young people to smoke. Conclusions This study identified that beliefs about tobacco industry behaviour and marketing practices were related to youth smoking behaviour. In order to address the unique needs of smoking youth, discussions for future tobacco industry denormalization campaigns should consider messages tailored to focus on corporate social responsibility, sport and cultural event sponsorship and industry manipulation.