Vaping on Instagram: cloud chasing, hand checks and product placement

Chu, Kar-Hai; Allem, Jon-Patrick; Cruz, Tess Boley; Unger, Jennifer B.

doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053052

Cited by 119 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…professionals or young adults), and attribute certain qualities (e.g. trendy) with their customers, this may help explain why vape shops are using marketing strategies that target individuals who may vape to maintain a specific persona and are sponsoring events that vape retailers may believe reflect the norms and behaviors of their customers 16 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vape shop retailers’ perceptions of their customers, products and services: A content analysis

Tsai¹,

Bluthenthal²,

Allem³

et al. 2017

Tob. Prev. Cessation

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INTRODUCTION The popularity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has spurred the growth of vape shops, but little is known about the retailers who may play an important role in the introduction and dissemination of vape products. In this paper we examine how retailers profile their customers and their perceptions of vaping, and the services their shops provide. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of retailers (n=77) located across southern California. Open-ended questions were coded and analyzed using a content analysis approach. RESULTS Three themes emerged from the content analysis: who vapes, why people vape, and the vape shop environment. Retailers profiled customers as friendly, health conscious, and interested in tobacco cessation or cessation maintenance. Retailers believed e-cigarettes were used recreationally or as products that help curb other addictive behaviors. While most retailers reported positive experiences with vaping, some reported potentially negative experiences including failed cessation attempts, dual use of e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes, and increased nicotine dependence. Retailers reported that they regularly answer questions about vaping and believe their shops function as social lounges that are tied to other recreational activities. CONCLUSIONS Retailers attach certain characteristics to their clientele, perceive certain health benefits associated with vaping, and seek to establish their shops as places that provide guidance on vape products as well as shops with a recreational aesthetic. As vape shops grow in popularity, additional research on, and regulation of, these retailers will be necessary. Education campaigns are needed to inform retailers of the benefits and consequences of vaping.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vape shop retailers’ perceptions of their customers, products and services: A content analysis

Tsai¹,

Bluthenthal²,

Allem³

et al. 2017

Tob. Prev. Cessation

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Given the high numbers of vape shops that have surfaced across the U.S., a large-scale education campaign may be warranted. The presence of vape shops on social media suggests that using online platforms in communication may be effective in delivering information to both consumers and vape shop employees 21,22 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employee and customer handling of nicotine-containing e-liquids in vape shops

Garcia¹,

Allem²,

Baezconde‐Garbanati³

et al. 2017

Tob. Prev. Cessation

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INTRODUCTIONVape shops sell electronic cigarettes and related products such as e-liquids, which may contain nicotine. Direct contact with nicotine can lead to adverse health effects, and few regulations exist on how nicotine is handled in vape shops. This study examined how customers and employees come into contact with, and handle, nicotine-containing e-liquids in vape shops with the goal of informing potential future regulation of nicotine handling in vape shops.METHODSData were collected from 77 vape shops in the Los Angeles basin. Characteristics of the shops were documented by employee interviews and in store observations. Data collection was focused on shops located in areas with high concentrations of communities of interest; 20 shops from African-American communities, 17 from Hispanic communities, 18 from Korean communities, and 22 from non-Hispanic White communities.RESULTSHalf of the vape shops allowed customers to sample e-liquids with nicotine. Most of the shops (83%) provided self-service sampling stations for customers. A majority of shop employees (72%) reported that spills of e-liquids containing nicotine had occurred in the past. While 64% of the shops provided safety equipment, only 34% provided equipment for proper nicotine handling. Furthermore, 62% of shop employees reported handling nicotine without gloves or other safety equipment.CONCLUSIONSRegulation on the handling of nicotine by customers and vape shop employees is important to prevent unsafe practices and subsequent injury. The frequent occurrence of spills and limited availability of safety equipment in vape shops highlights the need for the creation and enforcement of regulations to protect employees and customers. Appropriate safety training and equipment should be provided to employees to prevent accidental exposure to nicotine. Information on ways to safely handle nicotine should be communicated to vape shop employees and customers.

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“…Yom-Tov et al [17] examined imagery associated with eating disorders on Flickr. A few studies have looked at substance use on Instagram, including electronic cigarettes [18], marijuana [19], and opioids [20]. Garimella et al [21] looked more broadly at lifestyle choices in Instagram, including diet, physical activity, and drinking.…”

Section: Prior Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

#Healthy Selfies: Exploration of Health Topics on Instagram (Preprint)

Muralidhara¹,

Paul²

2018

Preprint

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Background: Social media provides a complementary source of information for public health surveillance. The dominate data source for this type of surveillance is the microblogging platform Twitter, which is convenient due to the free availability of public data. Less is known about the utility of other social media platforms, despite their popularity. Objective: This work aims to characterize the health topics that are prominently discussed in the image-sharing platform Instagram, as a step toward understanding how this data might be used for public health research. Methods: The study uses a topic modeling approach to discover topics in a dataset of 96,443 Instagram posts containing hashtags related to health. We use a polylingual topic model, originally developed for datasets in different natural languages, to model different modalities of data: hashtags, caption words, and image tags automatically extracted using a computer vision tool. Results: We identified 47 health-related topics in the data, covering ten broad categories: acute illness, alternative medicine, chronic illness and pain, diet, exercise, healthcare & medicine, mental health, musculoskeletal health and dermatology, sleep, and substance use. The most prevalent topics were related to diet and exercise. Conclusions: A large and diverse set of health topics are discussed in Instagram. The extracted image tags were generally too coarse and noisy to be used for identifying posts, but were in some cases accurate for identifying images relevant to studying diet and substance use. Instagram shows potential as a source of public health information, though limitations in data collection and metadata availability may limit its use in comparison to platforms like Twitter.

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Vaping on Instagram: cloud chasing, hand checks and product placement

Cited by 119 publications

References 26 publications

Vape shop retailers’ perceptions of their customers, products and services: A content analysis

Vape shop retailers’ perceptions of their customers, products and services: A content analysis

Employee and customer handling of nicotine-containing e-liquids in vape shops

#Healthy Selfies: Exploration of Health Topics on Instagram (Preprint)

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