Tackling Smoker Misperceptions about E-cigarettes using Expert Videos

Abstract

Background: The pervasive misperception that e-cigarettes are equally or more harmful than combustible cigarettes is a barrier to current smokers switching to e-cigarettes. To tackle misperceptions, public health bodies are using informational videos, although their efficacy is unknown. Methods: In our online study, current UK smokers who do not vape (n=382) were randomised to view either: 1) a Cancer Research UK (CRUK) text-only video; 2) a video featuring leading e-cigarette experts (expert); or 3) a no video control condition, and then completed questions regarding e-cigarette harm perceptions. Results: Compared to the control condition, participants in the CRUK condition and especially those in the expert condition had more accurate harm perceptions of e-cigarettes and had more accurate knowledge of e-cigarette constituents. In the expert condition, 67% of individuals reported they would try an e-cigarette in a future quit attempt, compared with 51% in the CRUK condition and 35% in the control condition. Conclusions: Our findings are encouraging in the face of mounting evidence that e-cigarette misperceptions are increasing. Whilst misperceptions are often characterised as resistant to correction, we find that carefully designed public health information videos have the potential to promote a more accurate, informed view of e-cigarettes and encourage intended e-cigarette usage. Importantly, we find this among current smokers who do not vape, a group often reported as having the highest levels of misperceptions and as having the most to gain from accurate e-cigarette perceptions.

Estimating the Effects of Tobacco-21 on Youth Tobacco Use and Sales

“…Trends Survey, only 10.2% of U.S. adults correctly answered that e-cigarettes are either less harmful or much less harmful than cigarettes, which may in part be driven by the wrongful attribution of nicotine e-cigarettes to lung injuries at the end of 2019 (Dave et al, 2020). The pervasive misperception that e-cigarettes are equally or more harmful than combustible cigarettes is a barrier to current smokers switching to e-cigarettes (Svenson et al, 2021). Raising the MLSA to 21 for both cigarettes and smokeless products could have the unintended effect of causing some substitution to cigarette use compared to the counterfactual world in which T21 could be adopted without changing perceptions of risk.…”