The Impact of Instagram and TikTok Influencer Marketing on Perceptions of E-cigarettes in Young Adults: a Survey-based Experiment
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Enrollment
- 1,500
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes
Study Overview
Brief Summary
Young adults (N = 1,500) will participate in the online survey-based experiment. They will be randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group), or a healthy lifestyle activity alone (control). After watching each video, participants will rate perceptions of influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge, attractiveness, intelligence, and popularity) on the scale of 0 (e.g., dishonest) to 100 (honest).
Among all participants, harm perceptions of e-cigarettes will be assessed. Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes will be assessed among never users. These outcomes will then be compared among participants who perceived influencers as credible and those who perceived influencers as non-credible.
Detailed Description
Young adults (18-24 years of age) living in California were recruited by YouGov marketing research panel to participate in a survey on tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. YouGov, a research panel agency, has been used in prior research to survey young adults about their tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Respondents (N=1,500) were matched to a sampling frame based on gender, age, race, and education. The sampling frame was a politically representative modeled frame of United States (U.S.) adults based on the American Community Survey. The matched cases were weighted to the sampling frame using a propensity score matching procedure. Participants were provided with a survey URL link. After completing informed consent, participants completed the survey online. The study was approved by the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (UP-21-00135). Respondents were randomly assigned to watch 10 10-second long TikTok videos in either experimental (influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities ) or control group (influencers showing healthy lifestyle activity alone).
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Factorial
- Primary Purpose
- Other
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 18 Years to 24 Years (Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria
- •18-24 years of age,
- •English fluency,
- •Current California resident.
- •The survey was sampled to be representative by age group (18 to 24) and gender, and was weighted to be representative by age, gender, race, and educational attainment using propensity score weighting.
Exclusion Criteria
- •Not meeting these criteria:
- •18-24 years of age,
- •English fluency,
- •Current California resident.
Arms & Interventions
Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities
Young adults were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group).
Intervention: Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (Other)
Videos featuring influencers showing healthy lifestyle activities
Young adults were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting healthy lifestyle activity alone (control).
Intervention: Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (Other)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes
Time Frame: one-time assessment after the experimental exposure (immediately post-treatment)
Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes was measured (among never-users of e-cigarettes), using the validated three-item scale adapted from PATH, and combined into one variable (α=0.93). Consistent with prior research, the measure was dichotomized with responses "definitely not" to all items being coded as "not susceptible" and responses "probably not," "probably yes", or "definitely yes" being coded as "susceptible."
Perceptions of influencer credibility
Time Frame: assessed 10 times after each video (during treatment, immediately after each video)
Perceptions of influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge, intelligence, attractiveness, and popularity) were assessed using a 0 (e.g., dishonest) -100 (e.g., honest) scale that has been validated in prior research.
harm perceptions of e-cigarettes
Time Frame: one-time assessment after the experimental exposure (immediately post-treatment)
Responses to the question, "Do you think vaping e-cigarettes is harmful to your health?" were measured on a Likert scale, ranging from "definitely yes" (1), "probably yes" (2), to "probably not (3)," "definitely not (4)." The measure represents one validated item from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH).
Secondary Outcomes
No secondary outcomes reported
Investigators
Jennifer Unger
Professor
University of Southern California