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Background: Following California's statewide law prohibiting the sale of flavoured tobacco products, some cigarette brands introduced new variants advertised as non-menthol, yet featuring design and text commonly found in menthol cigarette marketing., Methods: Data are from the February-May 2023 wave of the Tobacco Epidemic Evaluation Network (TEEN+) national probability-based survey (aged 13-25 years). Respondents (N=10 217) were shown images of two (of four) 'new non-menthol' brand ads or packaging and two comparators ('classic' non-menthol and menthol cigarette brands). Respondents reported expected taste of each (no or any minty/menthol taste; 'don't know'). Multinomial regression models tested associations between predictors (age, gender identity, race and ethnicity, perceived financial situation, smoking status) and expectation of minty/menthol taste., Results: Younger age was associated with expectations of minty/menthol taste, controlling for covariates. Respondents aged 13-17 years had greater odds of expecting minty/menthol taste than no minty/menthol taste for all tested new non-menthol brands (Camel Crush Oasis adjusted OR (aOR): 1.30, p<0.05; Camel Crisp aOR: 1.47, p<0.001; Kool Non-Menthol Blue aOR: 1.27, p<0.05; Kool Non-Menthol Green aOR: 1.43, p<0.01), compared to respondents aged 21 and older. Respondents aged 18-20 years had greater odds of reporting minty/menthol expectancies than no minty/menthol expectancies for Camel Crush Oasis (aOR: 1.35, p<0.05) and Kool Non-Menthol Green (aOR: 1.29, p<0.05) compared to those aged 21-25 years. Compared to non-Hispanic white respondents, non-Hispanic Asian respondents had greater odds of expecting minty/menthol taste than no minty/menthol taste for Camel Crush Oasis (aOR: 1.89, p<0.01), Kool Non-Menthol Blue (aOR: 1.88, p<0.01) and Kool Non-Menthol Green (aOR: 1.72, p<0.05)., Discussion: Younger age was associated with expectations of new non-menthol cigarettes having a minty/menthol taste. Results raise concerns regarding the potential appeal of these products to youth and young adults., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) advertising is associated with ENDS purchase and use. This study assessed trends in ENDS advertisement (ad) expenditures in the USA from 2015 to 2020 overall, by media channel and by advertiser., Methods: Data came from Numerator, which conducts surveillance of ads and estimates expenditures. The estimates are dollars spent (adjusted to 2020) by the advertiser for each ad occurrence for print, radio, television and digital (online, mobile) media channels. ENDS ad expenditures were assessed by quarter, media channel and the top five advertisers based on ad occurrences., Results: Overall ENDS ad expenditures increased from $38 million in 2015 to $217 million in 2019 before decreasing to a low of $22 million in 2020. By media channel, print expenditures led the channels with more than twice as much spent as television, four times more than radio and 10 times more than digital. By advertiser, JUUL led in ENDS ad expenditures from 2015 to 2020 with almost $189 million spent, followed by British American Tobacco (BAT, $105 million) and Imperial Tobacco ($62 million)., Conclusions: Overall ad expenditures were relatively stable from 2015 to mid-2018 when large expenditures by JUUL and subsequent expenditures by BAT and Imperial Tobacco led to expenditure highs in 2019. E-cigarette and vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI), the JUUL self-imposed ad suspension and COVID-19 likely all played a role in advertising lows in 2020. The absence of popular Puff Bar brand ads from the traditional media channels studied highlights the importance of monitoring direct and indirect advertising on newer media channels like social media., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)