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Adolescents’ interpretations of e-cigarette advertising and their engagement with e-cigarette information: results from five focus groups
Chen, Yvonnes Tilden, Chris Vernberg, Dee Katherine
Chen, Yvonnes
Tilden, Chris
Vernberg, Dee Katherine
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to explore adolescent non-e-cigarette users’ interpretations of e-cigarette advertising and their engagement with e-cigarette information. Given adolescents’ lack of persuasion knowledge and the association between advertising and behaviour, insights from non-users who are heavily targeted by the industry add evidence to a field that mainly focuses on risk perceptions and reasons for experimentation.
DESIGN: Five focus groups were conducted with 39 adolescents (mean = 14.21 years, age range = 12–17, 80% female). Data were analysed using the thematic approach. Results: Three themes were emerged: (1) advertising motivates nonsmokers to use e-cigarettes, (2) there is fascination with the technical and emotional appeals featured in commercials and (3) searching for information about e-cigarettes involves little validation. Adolescents also recalled health and social appeals that are consistent with content analysis of e-cigarette advertising. Further, adolescents used digital platforms and interpersonal sources for information on e-juice ingredients, health effects, accessibility, and price to satisfy their curiosity and justify their use. Very few, however, questioned the trustworthiness of the information.
CONCLUSION: Findings provide support for the implementation of strategies, such as media literacy in public health and media campaigns, and the development of regulations vis-à-vis advertising and access to e-cigarette products to reduce future uptake.
Description
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Psychology & Health on 16 Aug 2019, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2019.1652752
Date
2019-08-16
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Routledge
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Keywords
Adolescents, E-cigarette advertising, Engagement with information, Focus group, Media literacy, Regulations
Citation
Yvonnes Chen, Chris Tilden & Dee Katherine Vernberg (2020) Adolescents’ interpretations of e-cigarette advertising and their engagement with e-cigarette information: results from five focus groups, Psychology & Health, 35:2, 163-176, DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2019.1652752