Testing potential disclosures for e-cigarette sponsorship on social media

Abstract

Objectives: Few e-cigarette social media posts are authentic posts to friends; most come from commercially sponsored influencers. Potential disclosure strategies need to be tested to confirm whether users recognize such posts as commercially sponsored.

Methods: Between July - August 2019, young adult (ages 16-24; n = 200) participants were recruited to view their native Instagram feed on a laboratory mobile device. Posts from e-cigarette influencers were manipulated to add either #ad or #sponsored while eye tracking software measured visual attention. Participants self-reported their interpretation of the hashtags in open-ended responses. Logistic regression analyses compared recognition of commercial content by condition, and qualitative content analyses summarized the key themes related to the hashtags.

Results: The #ad condition had nearly twice the odds of commercial recognition compared to #sponsored (OR = 1.98, CI: 1.14-3.38). Every second of attention paid to the hashtag significantly increased the odds of commercial recognition by 22% (OR: 1.22, CI: 1.00-1.33).

Conclusion: The #ad disclosure attracted visual attention and significantly increased recognition of commercial sponsorship from young social media users. Labeling commercially sponsored content on social media is a promising strategy to better inform users about paid social media influence.

Keywords: Health behavior; Health communications; Health policy; Social media; Tobacco control.