Using tobacco control policies to increase consumer demand for smoking cessation.

Population-based indicators of smoking cessation have stalled in recent years. This commentary focuses attention on tobacco control policies that can be used to stimulate renewed consumer demand for smoking cessation. Tobacco use as reflected in population trends is the product of the interaction of three broad categories of factors: agent, host, and environment. Government policies are an important, modifıable environmental influence that can directly or indirectly influence smoking behavior. For example, numerous studies have shown that a hike in tobacco taxes reduces cigarette consumption and encourages smokers to quit. Such policies typically cause the tobacco industry to respond by offering consumers incentives, such as price discounts on cigarettes, to lessen the impact of tax increases. The challenge faced by tobacco control practitioners is how to market smoking cessation to make it a more attractive consumer choice when compared with what cigarette marketers are doing to keep consumers puffıng away. This commentary reviews factors that drive consumer demand for cessation products and services, and discusses how tobacco companies excel at driving consumer demand for their products. Finally, there is a discussion on how tobacco control practitioners and advocates can exploit various policy options that are likely to create demand for smoking-cessation products and services.