Examining the influence of descriptors used to market unflavoured cigarillos: an experiment with a sample of youth and young adults from the USA

Significance The tobacco industry uses different descriptors to market unflavoured cigarillos, which represent around half of all cigarillos sold. Limited research has focused on perceptions of unflavoured cigarillos. Methods We conducted an online between-subjects experiment with n=742 US youth and young adults (ages 15–20) recruited July-November 2024 through Qualtrics who reported ever/past 30-day little cigar or cigarillo use or susceptibility to using little cigars or cigarillos. Participants were randomly assigned to view one of four fictitious cigarillo packages with descriptors commonly used to market unflavoured cigarillos—‘un-sweet’, ‘tobacco’, ‘silver’ and no descriptor. Cigarillos were chosen for their popularity among youth and young adults and dominance in cigar sales. Outcomes included perceived product flavour and taste, appeal, susceptibility and purchase intentions. Results The silver descriptor led to more favourable flavour and taste perceptions, higher appeal and higher purchase intentions compared with the un-sweet descriptor ( p s