This report brings together two complementary studies conducted by the ITC Project and the University of Stirling to assess compliance with and the impact of the current UK e-cigarette marketing regulations.

Study A, conducted by University of Stirling, consisted of an analysis of e-cigarette advertising expenditure in the UK in 2019 and a detailed content analysis of a sample of advertising taken from the same year. Study B, conducted by the ITC Project, consisted of an analysis of ITC Survey data which measured reported noticing of e-cigarette marketing by young people (16 to 19-year-olds) between 2017 and 2019, and adults (aged 18 and older) between 2016 and 2018 in a broad range of marketing channels.

The UK Government is obliged to review and deliver a report on the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR) within five years of the legislation being enacted, by May 2021. This report will help to inform the Government’s review.

This research was funded by the Cancer Policy Research Centre, Cancer Research UK. This report is also available for download at: Cancer Research UK

This report should be referred to as follows:

Stead, M., Hitchman, S.C., Angus, K., Aleyan, S., Ford, A., MacKintosh, A.M., Purves, R., Mitchell, D., Hammond, D., Fong, G.T., Driezen, P., Reid, J., Craig, L., Chung-Hall J., Cummings, K.M., Thrasher, J.F., Cho Y.J., Cowell, C., Coker, T., Bullock, S., Froguel, A., Vohra, J., “E-cigarette marketing in the UK: evidence from adult and youth surveys and policy compliance studies.” Cancer Research UK. 2021.

Authors

Study A: Martine Stead (a), Kathryn Angus (a), Allison Ford (a), Anne Marie MacKintosh (a), Richard Purves (a), Danielle Mitchell (a)

Study B: Sarah Aleyan (b,c), David Hammond (c), Geoffrey T. Fong (c,d,e), Pete Driezen (c,d), Jessica Reid (c), Lorraine Craig (d), Janet Chung-Hall (d), K. Michael Cummings (f), James F. Thrasher (g), Yoo Jin Cho (g), Sara C. Hitchman (b)

CRUK authors: Catherine Cowell (h), Tim Coker (i), Sarah Bullock (j), Alizee Froguel (j), Jyotsna Vohra (i)

(a) Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK

(b) Department of Addictions, Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK

(c) School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

(d) Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada;

(e) Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

(f) Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

(g) Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior, School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

(h) Policy & Implementation Research, Cancer Research UK

(i) Cancer Policy Research Centre, Cancer Research UK

(j) Policy Development, Cancer Research UK