| This dissertation explores how college students interact with, understand and interpret tobacco promotions in convenience stores. It also investigates how the convenience store environment and experience relate to college students' perceptions of tobacco products and retail promotions. This research highlights the ways retail promotions are able to normalize and legitimate tobacco images and consumption values in what is seen as an everyday, ordinary setting.; Tobacco companies are spending an increasing amount of money on advertising and the vast majority of advertising expenditures are directed at the retail environment, particularly at convenience stores (Federal Trade Commission, 2005). Convenience stores in turn are dominated by cigarette promotional materials and huge numbers of people (the average store has more than half a million customers a year) are exposed to both mundane and outlandish promotional displays during their everyday shopping experiences ("Convenience stores offer," 2006).; This study is situated in the theoretical framework of reception analysis and audience studies, a field that considers how audiences use and reshape media and popular culture in their everyday lives (Fiske, 1982). The research involved an initial survey to gather data and screen potential interviewees as well as in-depth interviews with college students about their perceptions of retail tobacco promotions and convenience store experiences.; Key findings of the interviews were that college students associate tobacco-related images and experiences with the convenience store environment. While interviewees generally expressed awareness of how store layout and promotions affect consumer behavior, they expressed no hostility or negative feelings towards tobacco companies and tobacco promotions. They rejected the idea that in-store ads affected them, and generally attributed smoking behavior to peer pressure and personal taste. Further, the interviews showed that going to convenience stores is a routine, everyday practice for many college students, but that it is also emotionally associated with a place of familiarity, neighborhood and comfort.; Investigating what is happening in the context of retail promotions is important for understanding the significance and impact of regulations on tobacco advertising. It is both practically and theoretically useful to describe how this form of advertising fits into cultural meanings about smoking and tobacco products. |
