Promotion of Disposable Electronic Cigarette Flavors and Topics on Twitter

Sun, Li; Tao, Chunliang; Xie, Zidian; Li, Dongmei

doi:10.3390/ijerph17249221

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Before the New York State flavor ban, the FDA implemented a flavor enforcement policy to restrict closed system devices containing flavored liquids other than tobacco and menthol flavors, which were less preferred by teenagers [ 31 ]. Different types of e-cigarettes (eg, disposable e-cigarettes [ 48 ]) might have partially contributed to the high proportions of fruit and sweet flavors discussed in period 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Impact of the New York State Flavor Ban on e-Cigarette–Related Discussions on Twitter: Observational Study

Gao¹,

Xie²,

Li³

2022

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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Background On May 18, 2020, the New York State Department of Health implemented a statewide flavor ban to prohibit the sales of all flavored vapor products, except for tobacco or any other authorized flavor. Objective This study aims to investigate the discussion changes in e-cigarette–related tweets over time with the implementation of the New York State flavor ban. Methods Through the Twitter streaming application programming interface, 59,883 e-cigarette–related tweets were collected within the New York State from February 6, 2020, to May 17, 2020 (period 1, before the implementation of the flavor ban), May 18, 2020-June 30, 2020 (period 2, between the implementation of the flavor ban and the online sales ban), July 1, 2020-September 15, 2020 (period 3, the short term after the online sales ban), and September 16, 2020-November 30, 2020 (period 4, the long term after the online sales ban). Sentiment analysis and topic modeling were conducted to investigate the changes in public attitudes and discussions in e-cigarette–related tweets. The popularity of different e-cigarette flavor categories was compared before and after the implementation of the New York State flavor ban. Results Our results showed that the proportion of e-cigarette–related tweets with negative sentiment significantly decreased (4305/13,246, 32.5% vs 3855/14,455, 26.67%, P<.001), and tweets with positive sentiment significantly increased (5246/13,246, 39.6% vs 7038/14,455, 48.69%, P<.001) in period 4 compared to period 3. “Teens and nicotine products” was the most frequently discussed e-cigarette–related topic in the negative tweets. In contrast, “nicotine products and quitting” was more prevalent in positive tweets. The proportion of tweets mentioning mint and menthol flavors significantly increased right after the flavor ban and decreased to lower levels over time. The proportions of fruit and sweet flavors were most frequently mentioned in period 1, decreased in period 2, and dominated again in period 4. Conclusions The proportion of e-cigarette–related tweets with different attitudes and frequently discussed flavor categories changed over time after the implementation of the New York State ban of flavored vaping products. This change indicated a potential impact of the flavor ban on public discussions of flavored e-cigarettes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Impact of the New York State Flavor Ban on e-Cigarette–Related Discussions on Twitter: Observational Study

Gao¹,

Xie²,

Li³

2022

JMIR Public Health Surveill

Self Cite

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“…Twitter data had been used to examine the public perceptions of different e-liquid flavors through sentiment analysis (Lu, 2020). Another study on disposable electronic cigarettes showed that e-cigarette companies were promoting flavored disposable e-cigarettes to young people on Twitter by taking advantage of loopholes (Li Sun, 2020). A recent study categorizing IQOS-related tweets (from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020) found that Twitter discussions focused on marketing, personal testimonials, and also health claims (Barker et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of the IQOS Heated Tobacco Product on Twitter in the United States

et al. 2021

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After the approval of the sales of IQOS in the United States market, discussions about IQOS have become active on social media. Twitter is a popular social media platform to understand public opinions toward IQOS. This study aims to explore public perceptions toward IQOS on Twitter in the United States. IQOS-related tweets from the United States between November 19, 2019, and August 24, 2020, were collected using a Twitter streaming application programming interface (API). Sentiment analysis was performed to determine whether the public perceptions toward IQOS were positive, neutral, or negative. In addition, topics discussed in these tweets were manually coded. From November 2019 to August 2020, the number of tweets discussing IQOS was relatively constant except for a peak starting from July 7, 2020, which lasted for 4 days. Among IQOS tweets with positive sentiments, the most popular topic is “IQOS is safer than cigarettes,” followed by “IQOS helps quit smoking.” Among tweets with negative sentiments, the most popular topic is “illegal marketing/selling to youth,” followed by “health risks/fire hazards.” “FDA approval/regulation” is the most popular topic for tweets with neutral sentiments. After the announcement of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforcement policy on unauthorized flavored e-cigarette products on January 2, 2020, the proportion of tweets with positive attitudes toward IQOS significantly increased, while the proportion of negative tweets significantly decreased. Our study showed that the public perception of IQOS in the United States became more positive after the FDA enforcement policy on flavored e-cigarettes. While many Twitter users thought IQOS is safer than cigarettes and helps quit smoking, some Twitter users complained about the illegal marketing and health risks of IQOS. These findings provide useful information on future tobacco regulations.

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“…Other studies have described similar e-cigarette communities on other social media platforms [32,33]. However, a study on Twitter reported that 97% of disposable e-cigarette-related tweets from March to September 2020 were from commercial sources rather than users [18]. While we did analyze only the most popular videos during the study period (which are more likely to be user-generated), we suspect this methodological difference does not sufficiently explain the difference in findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

#NicotineAddictionCheck: Puff Bar Culture, Addiction Apathy, and Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok

Morales

Fahrion

Watkins

2022

IJERPH

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This study aimed to classify and delineate types of user-generated content about the disposable e-cigarette Puff Bar shared on the popular video-based social media platform TikTok. We qualitatively analyzed 148 popular TikTok videos collected in July 2020. During an iterative process of data reduction and thematic analysis, we categorized videos by overarching genres and identified emergent themes. Young adults were engaged at all stages of the research process. Together, videos were viewed over 137 million times on TikTok. Seven genres of Puff Bar content emerged: skits and stories, shared vaper experiences, videos to show off, product reviews, product unboxing, promotion of Puff Bar, and crafts. Videos depicted Puff Bar users’ apathy about addiction and a lack of concern of the health effects of e-cigarette use. Additionally, Puff Bar promotion content from underground retailers was extensive and some targeted underage persons. Qualitative analysis of social media content can richly describe emerging online culture and illuminate the motivations of adolescent and young adult e-cigarette use. Social media can facilitate new product adoption; comprehensive e-cigarette regulation and enforcement can counteract these effects by closing loopholes through which new products emerge.

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Promotion of Disposable Electronic Cigarette Flavors and Topics on Twitter

Cited by 14 publications

References 12 publications

Investigating the Impact of the New York State Flavor Ban on e-Cigarette–Related Discussions on Twitter: Observational Study

Investigating the Impact of the New York State Flavor Ban on e-Cigarette–Related Discussions on Twitter: Observational Study

Perceptions of the IQOS Heated Tobacco Product on Twitter in the United States

#NicotineAddictionCheck: Puff Bar Culture, Addiction Apathy, and Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok

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