Marketing claims, promotional strategies, and product information on Malaysian e-cigarette retailer websites - a systematic content analysis

Background: Marketing and sales are unregulated in Malaysia. We systematically analyzed content displayed on e-cigarette retailer websites to identify marketing claims, promotional strategies, and product details. Methods We analyzed 30 Malaysia-based retailer websites. Data were extracted as the frequency of occurrence of marketing claims, presence of regulatory information, product types, and flavors of e-juice as per a predefined codebook based on published literature. We also extracted textual details published on the websites about marketing claims, and slogans. Results Most retailer websites provided contact information and physical store addresses (83%) but only half had ‘click through’ age verification (57%) that seldom needed any identification proof for age (3%). Marketing claims were related to health (47%), smoking cessation (37%), and modernity/trend (37%) and none had health warnings. Promotional strategies were discounts (80%). starter kits (57%) and email subscriptions (53%). Product types displayed were rechargeable (97%) and disposable (87%) devices and e-liquids (90%) of an array of flavors (> 100). Nicotine presence, its concentration, and “nicotine is an addictive chemical" were displayed in 93%, 53%, and 23% of websites respectively. Conclusion Surveillance of content displayed online on e-cigarette retailer websites and regulation of online marketing and sales are needed to prevent youth access and initiation.