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

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. 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. 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. 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.