Consequences of applying soft‐sell themes in e‐cigarette advertisements

This research uses a multi‐method approach to validate the prominence of soft‐sell themes to advertise e‐cigarettes and to test how this advertising theme influences consumers' attitudes and behaviors. First, the study presents a content analysis identifying the prevalence of soft‐sell themes used as marketing stimuli to advertise e‐cigarettes. Second, a quasi‐experiment tests the effects of a soft‐sell theme ad on consumers' attitudes toward vaping, their intention to try e‐cigarettes, their attitude toward smoking, and maladaptive intentions. This latter effect is relevant to e‐cigarette marketing literature, as it suggests how consumers lose temporal distance of the harmful effects of vaping. Theoretical and practical contributions of these findings are discussed.