Evaluation of Tobacco Product-Selling Websites Accessed Using Search Engines

Autor: Mahmut S. Yardim, Selva Dilan Gölbaşı, Baran Demir, Hilal Özcebe, Özen Gül, Araz Ceren İncesoy, Tülin Çoban, Özgür Çoban, Selin Tosun, Ekinsu Karabiber, Sıla Güvenir
Přispěvatelé: Ege Üniversitesi
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Turk Thorac J
ISSN: 2149-2530
Popis: OBJECTIVE: Although the sale of electronic (e)-cigarettes and "I Quit Ordinary Smoking" (IQOS) is completely prohibited in Turkey, it is observed that tobacco products are sold on the internet. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted between February 11 and 15, 2019, using three search engines (Google, Yandex, and Yaani) in Turkey. All combinations obtained with the keywords (wrapping tobacco, cigarette, hookah, pigtail, cigar, pipe, e-cigarette, snuff, and IQOS) and appendices (sale, price, and shipping) were searched; 2,160 links were scanned. The contents obtained from 130 different URLs were evaluated. RESULTS: The most sold product was e-cigarettes (41.2%) and the least sold one was cigarettes (2.5%). Websites contained 500 phone numbers (79%), live support (32.8%), e-mail addresses (67.2%), and postal addresses (42.9%) for communication. Approximately half of the sites had routing tabs to social media. These websites offered some payment facilities (credit card/debit card, 64.7%; money order/electronic funds transfer (EFT), 37.8%; payment at the door, 54.6%) and contained encouraging texts (61.3%) and misinformation (42.9%). More number of websites selling e-cigarettes or IQOS had the campaign sales (89.3% vs 63.6%; p=0.001), possibility of shipping (98.7% vs 86.4%; p
Databáze: OpenAIRE