New Year, New You: More Adults Use E-Cigarettes to Curb Smoking than Other OTC or Rx Products

by Jayne Krahn

Every year when the ball drops, Americans everywhere commit to their personal New Year resolutions. Many times they revolve around health, specifically exercising more, eating better or for some adults, quitting smoking. Currently, 17% of adults (39 million) say that they smoke cigarettes, according to the 2013 MARS OTC/DTC Study.

How many of those adults are trying to quit? According to a survey conducted for national public health nonprofit, Legacy®, 56% of adult smokers surveyed were preparing to quit as a New Year’s Resolution in 2014 to improve their health.

But there are many different methods for quitting beyond cold-turkey, including medical products (both OTC and Rx). One method, the e-cigarette, has surged in popularity over the last few years. About 12% of smokers say they have used an e-cigarette in the last 12 months to help them quit smoking.  Comparatively, about 8% of smokers used a prescription product for smoking cessation and 8.7% used an OTC product other than e-cigarettes. 

How will this shake out in 2014? We’ll make sure to keep you updated when our annual survey is released.

Kantar Media’s MARS OTC/DTC Study helps agencies, marketers and media make better healthcare media and marketing decisions. It ties multimedia consumption to medical ailments, pharma brands, attitudes and opinions about healthcare and many other data points. A large sample of about 20,000 respondents provides stable and reliable information across categories and brands. Gain insights into category and product usage for 500+ OTC and Rx remedies, detailed information for 70 health conditions, including treatment options and much more.