Healthy and Fashionable?: A Content Analysis of E-cigarette on Retail Website

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Poster Session: Health Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Aim to inspect marketing strategies of E-cigarettes from different merchants on the same marketing platform, Tmall.
Combining grounded theory and frame analysis, this study investigated (1) what constituted the major marketing frames; (2) how these frames are constructed; (3) whether those frames contradict tobacco control policies.
Four major frames emerged through a deductive approach: (1) health and smoking cessation, (2) quality and functionality, (3) amusement and experience, (4) identity rewards. The most prevalent frame stresses that E-cigarette is durable, smart, and high-power as a type of technology. The most prominent cue was people in punk style playing with vapor. In contrast, health frame was the least uses, accounting for 13% of the total. Also, results showed that a significant share of websites emphasizes the fashionableness and high social status of consuming E-cigarettes.

Author

• yibei chen, School of Journalism, Fudan University