Influencer Marketing: a Survey-based Experiment Among Adolescents

NCT06501937 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: UP-21-00352
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 664
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Adolescents (N = 664) participated in the online survey-based experiment. They were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group), or e-cigarette promotion alone (control). After watching each video, participants rated perceptions of influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge) on the scale of 0 (e.g., dishonest) to 100 (honest). Among all participants, harm perceptions and appeal of e-cigarettes was assessed. Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes was assessed among never users of e-cigarettes. These outcomes were then compared among participants who perceived influencers as credible and those who perceived influencers as non-credible.

Conditions

Vaping

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Harm perceptions of e-cigarettes

  Responses to two questions adapted from PATH, "Based on the videos you just watched, do you think using e-cigarettes for vaping nicotine is harmful to your health?" "Based on the videos you just watched, do you think people harm themselves when they use e-cigarettes for vaping nicotine?" Outcome was assessed on the 0 (Not harmful at all) - 100 (Very harmful) scale. Since the items were closely related (α=0.87), they were combined (by summing all the non-missing values of the items) into one variable.

  one-time assessment after the experimental exposure (immediately post-treatment)

• Perceived appeal of e-cigarettes

  Responses to the following questions: using e-cigarette is: * not cool/cool, * unattractive/attractive, * boring/fun were assessed on the 7-point semantic differential scale with the word pairs anchored at each end. The scale was adapted from prior research. The items were combined (by summing all the non-missing values of the items) into one variable (α=0.93).

  one-time assessment after the experimental exposure (immediately post-treatment)

• Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes

  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."

  one-time assessment after the experimental exposure (immediately post-treatment)

• Perceptions of influencer credibility

  Perceptions of influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge) were assessed using a 0 (e.g., dishonest) -100 (e.g., honest) scale that has been validated in prior research.

  assessed 10 times immediately after each video

Study Arms (2)

Experimental group

EXPERIMENTAL

Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities

Other: Influencer marketing

Control group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alone

Other: Influencer marketing

Interventions

Influencer marketing OTHER

Participants watched online survey-imbedded promotional videos featuring influencers

Control group; Experimental group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 17 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• years of age,
• English fluency,
• Current California resident.

You may not qualify if:

• Not meeting these criteria:
• years of age,
• English fluency,
• Current California resident.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Southern California: lead

Study Sites (1)

Online survey, Qualtrics

Seattle, Washington, 98101, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Vaping

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Smoking; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Model Details: Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 8, 2024
• First Posted: July 15, 2024
• Study Start: February 12, 2024
• Primary Completion: February 29, 2024
• Study Completion: February 29, 2024
• Last Updated: July 15, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)