Haze in the Headlines: Definitional Struggle and the Social Construction of Canada's Vape Mediascape

A 2023 CBC article reports that teen vaping rates in Canada are among the highest in the world (Miller, 2023). While it presents a health risk to youth, particularly non-smokers, vaping is viewed as a better alternative for those struggling with tobacco and nicotine addiction and can be seen as an effective smoking cessation tool. This dissertation examines the social construction of vaping. Through the qualitative analysis of media texts, political discourse, and in-depth interviews, this research shows how vaping has been framed as both a health risk and a solution to a health problem. It also demonstrates how vaping discourse, co-created by a diversity of sources, leads to an ambivalent vaping narrative that has implications for sound public health strategies and a person’s decision to vape. The research is informed by different theoretical and methodological frameworks, including the ‘circuit of mass communication’ framework (Miller et al., 1998), which helps to make sense of how different groups struggle to establish definitional power and influence. It also draws on the sensitizing concepts of biomediatization, biocommunicability, and boundary objects (Briggs & Hallin, 2016) to contribute a better understanding of the discourse surrounding public health and risk. Several key themes emerge to illustrate how vaping is constructed as a health policy problem: The competition between experts with divergent views; the impossible dilemma that governments are either doing “too much” or “too little”; the evolving science influences vaping discourse, reflecting how knowledge uncertainties lead to ambivalent policy; and the commercialization of risk, which incentivizes tobacco companies to become entangled with health messaging strategies designed to reduce smoking. The research also shows how vape shop owners, vaping enthusiasts, and manufacturers of vaping devices are positioned as experts and authorities who provide health information and guidance on matters that would normally be the purview of biomedical experts.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Grantor dc:publisher

Carleton University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Ritter, Stephanie Leigh

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2025 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, distribution to students, research and scholarship. Theses may only be shared by linking to the Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be copied without proper attribution to the author; no part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

10.22215/etd/2025-16720

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/44747