Adolescents’ interpretations of e-cigarette advertising and their engagement with e-cigarette information: results from five focus groups

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.