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% had a smoking cessation-related claim, 22% featured doctors, and 76% claimed that the product does not produce secondhand smoke. Comparisons to cigarettes included claims that e-cigarettes were cleaner (95%) and cheaper (93%). Eighty-eight percent stated that the product could be smoked anywhere and 71% mentioned using the product to circumvent clean air policies. Candy, fruit, and coffee flavors were offered on most sites. Youthful appeals included images or claims of modernity (73%), increased social status (44%), enhanced social activity (32%), romance (31%), and use by celebrities (22%). Conclusions Health claims and smoking cessation messages that are unsupported by current scientific evidence are frequently used to sell e-cigarettes. Implied and overt health claims, the presence of doctors on websites, celebrity endorsements, and the use of characterizing flavors should be prohibited.
Purpose As elsewhere, in South Korea electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are marketed, in part, as a smoking cessation aid. We assessed the prevalence of e-cigarette use among Korean adolescents and the relationship between e-cigarette use and current (past 30-day) smoking, cigarettes/day, attempts to quit conventional cigarettes, and ceasing to use cigarettes. Methods Data from the 2011 Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey of 75,643 students aged 13–18 years were analyzed with logistic regression. Results A total of 9.4% (8.0% ever–dual users who were concurrently using e-cigarettes and smoking conventional cigarettes and 1.4% ever–e-cigarette only users) of Korean adolescents have ever used e-cigarettes and 4.7% were current (past 30-day) e-cigarette users (3.6% dual users and 1.1% e-cigarettes only). After adjusting for demographics, current cigarette smokers were much more likely to use e-cigarettes than were nonsmokers. Among current cigarette smokers, those who smoked more frequently were more likely to be current e-cigarette users. The odds of being an e-cigarette user were 1.58 times (95% confidence interval, 1.39–1.79) higher among students who had made an attempt to quit than for those who had not. It was rare for students no longer using cigarettes to be among current e-cigarette users (odds ratio, .10; confidence interval, .09–.12). Conclusions Some Korean adolescents may be responding to advertising claims that e-cigarettes are a cessation aid: those who had made an attempt to quit were more likely to use e-cigarettes but less likely to no longer use cigarettes. E-cigarette use was strongly associated with current and heavier cigarette smoking.
Discussion: These results have implications for the understanding of the tobacco dependence, the development of prevention and cessation strategies, and the applicability of harm-reduction techniques for racial/ethnic minorities. IntroductionDespite the current climate of increasing tobacco control in the United States, relatively few studies have examined smokers who report intermittent and light smoking ( Evans et al., 1992 ;Gilpin, Cavin, & Pierce, 1997 ;Husten, McCarty, Giovino, Chrismon, & Zhu, 1998 ). In part, this may be because of the perception that intermittent smoking is less harmful and that these smokers are less " addicted " than regular smokers. In this report, we defi ne intermittent smokers as current smokers who do not smoke daily and light daily smokers as those current daily smokers who consume 1 -5 cigarettes/day. Few studies to date have examined intermittent and light daily smoking among racial/ethnic groups in the United States using recent, nationally representative data. Even less research has been conducted comparing the effects of age, gender, and education between and within racial/ethnic groups on intermittent and light smoking. It is important to report on intermittent and light daily smoking behaviors across racial/ethnic groups at the national level; such information has implications for understanding the tobacco dependence and the development of smoking prevention and cessation strategies for racial/ethnic minorities. AbstractIntroduction: Limited research exists examining the prevalence of intermittent (nondaily) and light daily (1 -5 cigarettes/day) smoking across racial/ethnic groups in the United States using nationally representative data. These analyses would be informative in guiding targeted cessation strategies. Methods:Using logistic regression models controlling for age, gender, and education, we examined the prevalence of intermittent and light daily consumption among current smokers across racial/ethnic groups from the 2003 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey. We also examined the association of these demographic factors with consumption within each racial/ethnic group separately.Results: Black (odds ratio [ OR ] = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.59 -2.07), Asian/Pacifi c Islander ( OR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.29 -2.04), and Hispanic/Latino ( OR = 3.2, 95% CI = 2.75 -3.74) smokers were more likely to smoke intermittently compared with nonHispanic Whites. Black ( OR = 2.69, 95% CI = 2.27 -3.18), Asian/ Pacifi c Islander ( OR = 2.99, 95% CI = 2.13 -4.19), and Hispanic/ Latino ( OR = 4.64, 95% CI = 3.85 -5.58) smokers also were more likely to have light daily consumption compared with nonHispanic Whites. Hispanic/Latino intermittent smokers smoked fewer days per month and fewer cigarettes per day compared with non-Hispanic White smokers. We found no signifi cant gender differences across racial/ethnic groups in intermittent smoking, but male smokers were signifi cantly less likely to have light daily consumption for all racial/ethnic groups.
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