Fantasy fulfillment: Electronic cigarette website advertising

Introduction: Electronic cigarettes (or e-cigarettes) occupy a novel place in the nicotine/tobacco use market as they face unique legal challenges and are primarily sold over the Internet. However, little is known about these products and no published studies investigate their marketing. This study examines the main marketing messages and strategies to sell e-cigarettes and compares them to smokeless tobacco advertising. Methods: Content analysis of fifteen popular websites (found among first retrievals in repeated Google searches of the terms electronic cigarette, e-cigarette, and e-cig). We also included the electronic cigarette companies facing legal challenge or regulatory warnings from the FDA in the sample. Results: We found four main messages communicated through Web-based e-cigarette advertising: 1) they are a safer alternative to continuing to smoke tobacco cigarettes, 2) they are the new and modern way to smoke, 3) they can be used to quit smoking tobacco cigarettes, and 4) they can be used to circumvent clean indoor air laws. The sites often include unique Web-based marketing tools, such as instructional how-to videos and “testimonial” flash-based videos (embedded or linked from their sites to YouTube). Discussion: Marketing messages used to sell e-cigarettes overlap with new smokeless tobacco product advertising themes (e.g., for use “when you can't smoke"). The aggressive marketing of e-cigarettes, their potential appeal to current smokers wanting to quit, and the use of claims that are not supported by scientific evidence warrants public health surveillance and action.