Clean, Cheap, Convenient: Promotion of Electronic Cigarettes on YouTube

Sears, Clara G.; Walker, Kandi L.; Hart, Joy L.; Lee, Alexander S.; Siu, Allison; Smith, Courteney

doi:10.18332/tpc/69393

Cited by 43 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…A total of 25 studies were identified for inclusion in this review. A total of 18 studies analyzed Twitter data [16,17,31-46]; 4 examined YouTube including videos [47-49] and data associated with videos, such as video tags, titles, or descriptions [50]; and 3 studies investigated images on Instagram and Pinterest [51-53].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Messages Presented in Electronic Cigarette–Related Social Media Promotions and Discussion: Scoping Review

et al. 2019

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Background There has been a rapid rise in the popularity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) over the last decade, with growth predicted to continue. The uptake of these devices has escalated despite inconclusive evidence of their efficacy as a smoking cessation device and unknown long-term health consequences. As smoking rates continue to drop or plateau in many well-developed countries, transnational tobacco companies have transitioned into the vaping industry and are now using social media to promote their products. Evidence indicates e-cigarettes are being marketed on social media as a harm reduction alternative, with retailers and manufacturers utilizing marketing techniques historically used by the tobacco industry. Objective This study aimed to identify and describe the messages presented in e-cigarette–related social media (Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest) promotions and discussions and identify future directions for research, surveillance, and regulation. Methods Data sources included MEDLINE, Scopus, ProQuest, Informit, the Journal of Medical Internet Research , and Google Scholar. Included studies were published in English between 2007 and 2017, analyzed content captured from e-cigarette–related social media promotions or discussions, and reported results for e-cigarettes separately from other forms of tobacco and nicotine delivery. Database search ceased in October 2017. Initial searches identified 536 studies. Two reviewers screened studies by title and abstract. One reviewer examined 71 full-text articles to determine eligibility and identified 25 studies for inclusion. This process was undertaken with the assistance of the Web-based screening and data extraction tool—Covidence. The review was registered with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Systematic Reviews database and followed the methodology for JBI Scoping Reviews. Results Several key messages are being used to promote e-cigarettes including as a safer alternative to cigarettes, efficacy as a smoking cessation aid, and for use where smoking is prohibited. Other major marketing efforts aimed at capturing a larger market involve promotion of innovative flavoring and highlighting the public performance of vaping. Discussion and promotion of these devices appear to be predominantly occurring among the general public and those with vested interests such as retailers and manufacturers. There is a noticeable silence from the public health and government sector in these discussions on social media. Conclusions The social media landscape is dominated by pro-vaping messages disseminated by the vaping industry and vaping proponents. The uncertainty surrounding e-cigarette regulation expressed within the public health field appears not to be reflected in ongoing social media dialogues and highlights the need for public health professionals to interact with the public to actively in...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Messages Presented in Electronic Cigarette–Related Social Media Promotions and Discussion: Scoping Review

et al. 2019

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“…Vaping-related studies on social media mainly rely upon hashtags for collecting data. While some have directly used a few frequently appearing hashtags [ 16 , 17 ], others used hashtags by determining several root-term hashtags and finding co-occurring hashtags [ 30 , 31 , 36 ]. However, using these 2 methods, vaping-warning hashtags may be completely missing due to nonfrequent posting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analyzing how people communicate and share health-related information on the internet can provide valuable insights into population behavior [ 14 ]. Social media platforms, which have been widely used by e-cigarette companies and vape stores for marketing and promoting the sale of their products [ 15 - 17 ], are currently very popular in the United States. Online advertisements from e-cigarette companies and vape stores claim that e-cigarettes have multiple benefits, such as having smoking cessation functions, being more economical than smoking, being healthier than tobacco, and having multiple flavors as choices [ 18 - 20 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electronic Cigarette–Related Contents on Instagram: Observational Study and Exploratory Analysis

Gao¹,

Xie²,

Sun³

et al. 2020

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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Background Instagram is a popular social networking platform for users to upload pictures sharing their experiences. Instagram has been widely used by vaping companies and stores to promote electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), as well as by public health entities to communicate the risks of e-cigarette use (vaping) to the public. Objective We aimed to characterize current vaping-related content on Instagram through descriptive analyses. Methods From Instagram, 42,951 posts were collected using vaping-related hashtags in November 2019. The posts were grouped as (1) pro-vaping, (2) vaping warning, (3) neutral to vaping, and (4) not related to vaping based on the attitudes to vaping expressed within the posts. From these Instagram posts and the corresponding 18,786 unique Instagram user accounts, 200 pro-vaping and 200 vaping-warning posts as well as 200 pro-vaping and 200 vaping-warning user accounts were randomly selected for hand coding. Furthermore, follower counts and media counts of the Instagram user accounts as well as the “like” counts and hashtags of the posts were compared between pro-vaping and vaping-warning groups. Results There were more posts in the pro-vaping group (41,412 posts) than there were in the vaping-warning group (1539 posts). The majority of pro-vaping images were product display images (163/200, 81.5%), and the most popular image type in vaping-warning posts was educational (95/200, 47.5%). The highest proportion of pro-vaping user account type was vaping store (110/189, 58.1%), and the store account type had the highest mean number of posts (10.33 posts/account). The top 3 vaping-warning user account types were personal (79/155, 51%), vaping-warning community (37/155, 23.9%), and community (35/155, 22.6%), of which the vaping-warning community had the highest mean number of posts (3.68 posts/account). Pro-vaping user accounts had more followers (median 850) and media (median 232) than vaping-warning user accounts had (follower count: median 191; media count: 92). Pro-vaping posts had more “likes” (median 22) and hashtags (mean 20.39) than vaping-warning posts had (“like” count: median 12; hashtags: mean 7.16). Conclusions Instagram is dominated by pro-vaping content, and pro-vaping posts and user accounts seem to have more user engagement than vaping-warning accounts have. These results highlight the importance of regulating e-cigarette posts on social media and the urgency of identifying effective communication content and message delivery methods with the public about the health effects of e-cigarettes to ameliorate the epidemic of vaping in youth.

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“…Information promoting e-cig brands and products can be easily posted online and shared via social media at virtually no cost to stores or manufacturers 9 , 10 . Further, consumers can readily share their personal products and experiences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The popularity of e-cigs might be driven, in part, by marketing information and personal testimonies widely available to a global audience through these types of social media platforms 9 - 13 . Although the content of e-cig-related posts on Twitter and Instagram has been analyzed 14 - 18 , postings on Pinterest rarely have been examined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A picture is worth a thousand words: Electronic cigarette content on Instagram and Pinterest

Lee¹,

Hart²,

Sears³

et al. 2017

Tob. Prev. Cessation

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INTRODUCTION This study examined electronic cigarette (e-cig) content in visual materials posted on the social-media platforms Instagram and Pinterest. Both platforms allow users to upload pictures to the internet and share them globally. Users can search for pictures tagged with specific keywords and phrases. METHODS Using content analysis, this study identified themes in image postings of e-cigs on social media. During five weeks of data collection, keywords were used to identify pictures related to e-cigs. These pictures were then coded into one or more categories. RESULTS The three most popular categories for Instagram posts were marketing, customization and juices/flavors. The three most popular categories for Pinterest posts were customization, marketing and memes. CONCLUSIONS Because of the persuasive power of visuals, it is important to examine communication on Instagram and Pinterest as well as the specific visual messages communicated. Stores and manufacturers use these and similar platforms to communicate with users and potential users; thus it seems that marketers are capitalizing on opportunities for persuasive appeal. The results highlight the popularity of e-cig content on these two social media platforms and reveal an emphasis on marketing and customization.

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Clean, Cheap, Convenient: Promotion of Electronic Cigarettes on YouTube

Cited by 43 publications

References 14 publications

The Messages Presented in Electronic Cigarette–Related Social Media Promotions and Discussion: Scoping Review

The Messages Presented in Electronic Cigarette–Related Social Media Promotions and Discussion: Scoping Review

Electronic Cigarette–Related Contents on Instagram: Observational Study and Exploratory Analysis

A picture is worth a thousand words: Electronic cigarette content on Instagram and Pinterest

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