Responses to E-Cigarette Advertising

Early Phase 1

Completed

Conditions: E-Cig Use

Interventions: Other: Viewing e-cigarette ads

Registration Number: NCT04249219

Lead Sponsor: University of Massachusetts, Worcester

Brief Summary: While conventional cigarette use continues to decline among youth and young adults, e-cigarette (EC) use is on the rise. The use of ECs during young adulthood, particularly 18 years of age, is especially alarming because it is not only a critical period in development but also a time when tobacco use is established. Additionally, the tobacco industry targets individuals of this age with the hope that they will one day progress to using combustible cigarettes. Advertising may be one of the reasons leading young people to use ECs, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now has the authority to regulate EC advertisement features. The goal of the study is to determine which EC ad features most strongly influence young adults' attitudes, susceptibility, and intentions to use ECs. Fifteen ads from the most popular EC brands that employ a brand, product descriptions, and modeling features were selected. Young adults who are susceptible to EC use will come into the lab and view these ads. During exposure, they will be assessed for real-time visual attention using eye-tracking, orienting responses using heart rate, and arousal using skin conductance as well as pre- and post-ad self-report measures of attitudes, susceptibility, and behavioral intentions. These factors will help determine the most high impact features, which will be associated with the greatest visual attention, orienting responses, and arousal levels and changes in attitudes. Findings from this study will provide public health officials important and urgently needed information as to what advertising features are contributing to the sharp rise in the use of ECs among young adults.

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 62

Inclusion Criteria

18-26 years old,
Fluent in English,
Biochemically confirmed abstinence combusted tobacco or marijuana (eCO: exhaled carbon monoxide <6 parts per million) at time of visit
Reporting never trying an e-cigarette, not even a puff OR reporting having used an e-cigarette in the past but has not used in the past 30 days
Susceptibility to EC use, will be determined using the Susceptibility to Use Tobacco Products questionnaire

Exclusion Criteria

Younger than 18 years or older than 26 years
Not fluent in English
Not confirmed abstinent of combusted tobacco or marijuana
Use of an e-cigarette
Not susceptible to e-cigarette use

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
E-Cigarette Ads	Viewing e-cigarette ads	All individuals in the study will see the same e-cigarette advertisements presented in a random order.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Arousal	The average amplitude of skin conductance peaks over the 10 second viewing window for each ad brand.	Skin conductance or galvanic skin response was measured using three sensors applied to participants' fingers. Skin conductance measured if there was an emotional response and the intensity of the emotional response. A "peak" is a biological indicator that something happened, and the participant had an emotional response to it. The amplitude of each peak for each participant was measured and averaged per ad.
Attention to Specific ad Feature	Duration of seconds spent on all areas of interest during 10 second viewing window for each ad brand	Visual attention was assessed using an eye-tracker connected to the base of the computer screen. For each message, four areas of interest (AOI) were identified: 1) brand, 2) descriptor, 3) modeling, and 4) warning. All four AOIs were summed for a total number of milliseconds that a participant viewed the AOIs.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Motivations to Avoid E-cigarettes	Immediately after viewing each ad	Self-report Please rate on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 10 (very much). "How important is it to avoid e-cigarettes in the future?" "How confident are in avoiding e-cigarettes in the future?" "How ready are you to avoid e-cigarettes in the future?" "How committed are you to avoid e-cigarettes in the future?" Scores were averaged for each ad for each participant. Then, an overall average was taken among all participants for each ad. Higher values indicate greater motivation to avoid e-cigarettes.