E-cigarette Static Advertisements: Characteristics and Marketing Strategies

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the content characteristics and marketing strategies of static e-cigarette advertisements (ads) that may impact youth use. Methods: Static e-cigarette ads from print and online media sources were gathered using MarketTrack's Competitrack from 2015 to 2016. Two individuals independently coded ads using an instrument based on previous work. Descriptive analyses overall and by the top 6 brands were performed. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify unobserved ad groupings using media source and content characteristics as predictors. Results: Ads obtained (N = 748) were primarily from online sources (>80%) representing over 60 brands. Blu (15%) and Vapor4Life (13%) were the most frequent brands. Promotion of flavored products, technology/device characteristics, references to "taste," price, and financial incentives were common (>20% each). Health disclaimers (10%) and age restrictions (14%) were infrequent. LCA results indicated 5 unique ad groups that differed by primary media source (eg, opt-in email vs print-based) and specific ad characteristics including promotion of flavored products versus financial incentives. Conclusions: Findings highlight common ad characteristics as well as those that distinguish between latent ad groups. These ad characteristics represent future regulatory targets aimed to impact e-cigarette use .