On the road to addiction: The facilitative and preventive roles of marketing cues

This research broadens the focus on the addiction process by examining the role of marketing cues in the “pre-addiction” phase of the consumption continuum that is broadly conceptualized to include behavior that may or may not result in addiction. If addictive behavior is to occur then dependence on that behavior occurs leading to negative or harmful consequences as consumption increases over time becoming a critical component of the individual's life. Of central interest to this research are the environmental triggers that influence such pre-addiction consumption behaviors with a specific focus on the role marketing cues can play in facilitating and preventing the progression from non-use to addiction. We suggest that marketing cues have the potential to heavily influence the path towards and away from addiction and we identify types of cues that can impact each phase, or multiple phases, of the consumption continuum.