"Smoking revolution": a content analysis of electronic cigarette retail websites.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been increasingly available and marketed in the U.S. since 2007. As patterns of product adoption are frequently driven and reinforced by marketing, it is important to understand the marketing claims encountered by consumers.

Purpose

To describe the main advertising claims made on branded e-cigarette retail websites.

Methods

Websites were retrieved from two major search engines in 2011 using iterative searches with the following terms: electronic cigarette, e-cigarette, e-cig, and personal vaporizer. Fifty-nine websites met inclusion criteria, and 13 marketing claims were coded for main marketing messages in 2012.

Results

Ninety-five percent of the websites made explicit or implicit health-related claims, 64%

SUBMITTER: Grana RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3989286 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature