Evolution of Influencer-driven E-cigarette Marketing on Social Media and Its Effect on E-cigarette Perceptions and Use Patterns Among Adolescents
University of Southern California
Summary
The proposed study will conduct two randomized between-subject experiments among 6,000 adolescents (per each experiment) recruited nationwide to test the effects of audio-visual features of e-cigarette influencer marketing on perceptions of influencer credibility, e-cigarette harm perceptions, appeal, and susceptibility to e-cigarette use. This protocol represent the first experiment.
Description
We will estimate the effects of visual features often used in e-cigarette influencer marketing on social media on perceptions of influencer credibility, harm perceptions, appeal and susceptibility to e-cigarette use among adolescents. We will assess interaction of the perceived age of influencers (young-looking vs older-looking) with the following features of influencer marketing, using two survey-based experiments: Experiment 1 will assess the effects of theme or social context appeal, i.e., use of generally positively perceived lifestyle contexts (e.g., healthy lifestyle, entertainment) alon…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 14–17 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * 14-17 years of age, * English fluency, Exclusion Criteria: Not meeting the following criteria: * 14-17 years of age, * English fluency,
Interventions
- OtherExposure to Influencer Age and Context Variations in E-Cigarette Marketing
Exposure to promotional e-cigarette videos where influencers' age appearance (manipulated via an AI-based age filter) and the situational context alongside e-cigarette promotion (manipulated by background settings) are systematically varied. The videos will be embedded within an online survey platform, immediately preceding the outcome assessment.
Location
- University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, California