Young Adults Responses to E-Cigarette Advertisement Features and the Effect of Restricting Features on Tobacco Use

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.