Persoskie Alexander, Donaldson Elisabeth A, Ryant Chase
Office of Science, FDA Center for Tobacco Products, Silver Spring, MD, USA.
Tob Control. 2018 May 31. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-053993.
Package quantity refers to the number of cigarettes or amount of other tobacco product in a package. Many countries restrict minimum cigarette package quantities to avoid low-cost packs that may lower barriers to youth smoking.
We reviewed Truth Tobacco Industry Documents to understand tobacco companies' rationales for introducing new package quantities, including companies' expectations and research regarding how package quantity may influence consumer behaviour. A snowball sampling method (phase 1), a static search string (phase 2) and a follow-up snowball search (phase 3) identified 216 documents, mostly from the 1980s and 1990s, concerning cigarettes (200), roll-your-own tobacco (9), smokeless tobacco (6) and 'smokeless cigarettes' (1).
Companies introduced small and large packages to motivate brand-switching and continued use among current users when faced with low market share or threats such as tax-induced price increases or competitors' use of price promotions. Companies developed and evaluated package quantities for specific brands and consumer segments. Large packages offered value-for-money and matched long-term, heavy users' consumption rates. Small packages were cheaper, matched consumption rates of newer and lighter users, and increased products' novelty, ease of carrying and perceived freshness. Some users also preferred small packages as a way to try to limit consumption or quit.
Industry documents speculated about many potential effects of package quantity on appeal and use, depending on brand and consumer segment. The search was non-exhaustive, and we could not assess the quality of much of the research or other information on which the documents relied.
包装数量指的是一包香烟的支数或其他烟草制品的数量。许多国家限制香烟的最小包装数量，以避免出现可能降低青少年吸烟门槛的低成本包装。
我们查阅了烟草行业真实文件，以了解烟草公司推出新包装数量的理由，包括公司对包装数量可能如何影响消费者行为的预期和研究。通过雪球抽样法（第一阶段）、固定搜索字符串（第二阶段）和后续雪球搜索（第三阶段），我们找出了216份文件，大多来自20世纪80年代和90年代，涉及香烟（200份）、手卷烟丝（9份）、无烟烟草（6份）和“无烟香烟”（1份）。
当面临低市场份额或诸如税收导致价格上涨或竞争对手进行价格促销等威胁时，公司推出小包装和大包装，以促使品牌转换并激励现有用户持续使用。公司针对特定品牌和消费者群体制定并评估包装数量。大包装提供性价比，并符合长期重度使用者的消费率。小包装更便宜，符合新用户和轻度使用者的消费率，还增加了产品的新颖性、便携性和新鲜感。一些用户也更喜欢小包装，以此作为限制消费或戒烟的一种方式。
行业文件推测了包装数量对吸引力和使用的许多潜在影响，这取决于品牌和消费者群体。此次搜索并不详尽，我们无法评估这些文件所依据的许多研究或其他信息的质量。
