Portrayal of electronic cigarettes on YouTube

Abstract

BackgroundAs the most popular video sharing website in the world, YouTube has the potential to reach and influence a huge audience. This study aims to gain a systematic understanding of what e-cigarette messages people are being exposed to on YouTube by assessing the quantity, portrayal and reach of e-cigarette videos.MethodsResearchers identified the top 20 search results on YouTube by relevance and view count for the following search terms: “electronic cigarettes”, “e-cigarettes”, “ecigarettes”, “ecigs”, “smoking electronic cigarettes”, “smoking e-cigarettes”, “smoking ecigarettes”, “smoking ecigs”. A sample of 196 unique videos was coded for overall portrayal and genre. Main topics covered in e-cigarette videos were recorded and video statistics and viewer demographic information were documented.ResultsAmong the 196 unique videos, 94% (n = 185) were “pro” to e-cigarettes and 4% (n = 8) were neutral, while there were only 2% (n = 3) that were “anti” to e-cigarettes. The top 3 most prevalent genres of videos were advertisement, user sharing and product review. 84.3% of “pro” videos contained Web links for e-cigarette purchase. 71.4% of “pro” videos claimed that e-cigarettes were healthier than conventional cigarettes. Audience was primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada and “pro” e-cigarette videos were watched more frequently and rated much more favorably than “anti” ones.ConclusionsThe vast majority of information on YouTube about e-cigarettes promoted their use and depicted the use of e-cigarettes as socially acceptable. It is critical to develop appropriate health campaigns to inform e-cigarette consumers of potential harms associated with e-cigarette use.

Concept analysis of impressionability among adolescents and young adults

“…According to Lenhart et al (2018), 94% of adolescents access the Internet using a mobile device and 71% of those use more than one social media website. Content about tobacco products, such as electronic cigarettes (Huang, Kornfield, Szczypka, & Emery, 2014; Luo, Zheng, Zeng, & Leischow, 2014) and water pipes (Guidry, Jin, Haddad, Zhang, & Smith, 2016), are widespread on social media settings these days.…”

Portrayal of Electronic Cigarettes on YouTube

“…Since YouTube and other social media platforms have the ability to reach and influence a huge audience, public health community should also pay more attention on the potential impact of e-cigarette marketing on current efforts in tobacco control. Policy makers within the WHO MPOWER [29] framework also can be informed by the implications of our study. Not only careful monitoring and appropriate regulation is required, but also developing health campaigns on social media is critical for public health.…”

Rolling and scrolling: The portrayal of marijuana cigars (blunts) on YouTube

“…Second, videos were sorted by view count to capture the videos viewed most often. As consistent with other YouTube studies (Krausset et al, 2017b; Luo, Zheng, Zeng, & Leischow, 2014; Merianos et al, 2016), the first 20 videos were collected from each search and sorting method, resulting in 80 videos. Duplicates ( N = 27) and videos that did not discuss or display blunts in the videos ( N = 12) were removed.…”

“…Similar to the study of Luo et al on the portrayal of electronic cigarettes on Luo et al, (2014), “pro” messages referred to videos that promoted the use of blunts (e.g., presenting advantages of blunt use). “Anti” messages referred to videos that displayed the negative consequences of using blunts (e.g., presenting disadvantages of blunt use).…”

“…Some videos were classified into more than one genre. Following the work of Luo and colleagues (2014), we defined each genre as (1) advertisement (videos created by companies to promote a specific brand or product), (2) user sharing (videos uploaded by users to share experiences or tips), (3) product review (videos comparing multiple blunt use products), (4) introduction (videos introducing blunt use in general and/or discussing innovative ways to roll or smoke a blunt), (5) celebrity use (videos showing celebrities smoking or rolling blunts), (6) free trial (videos featuring URL links or store address to get free blunt products), (7) news clip (news reporting about blunts), and (8) TV program or movie clips (including TV shows, interviews, or movie clips which focused on blunts).…”