Influencer Marketing and Adolescent E-cigarette Use

NCT07420842 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: UP-CG-24-00013
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 700
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Adolescents (N = 700) participated in the online survey-based randomized experiment focused on understanding youth perceptions of e-cigarette influencer marketing on social media. Specifically, the study assessed how age appearance of social media influencers, fitness-related contextual framing of e-cigarette content, and perceived influencer credibility jointly shape adolescent harm perceptions, appeal, and susceptibility to e-cigarette use. Participants were randomly shown 6 videos, featuring younger- or older-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes in the following experimental conditions: 1) younger-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-oriented activities (condition 1); 2) older-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-oriented activities (condition 2); 3) younger-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes without any fitness-oriented content; and 4) older-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes without any fitness-oriented content (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 also assessed. Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes was assessed among never users of e-cigarettes.

Conditions

Vaping

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Harm Perceptions of e-cigarettes

  Responses to one question adapted from PATH, "Based on the videos you just watched, do you think using e-cigarettes for vaping nicotine is harmful to your health?" The outcome was assessed on the 5-point ordinal scale with the following response choices: Not at all harmful, slightly harmful, somewhat harmful, very harmful, extremely harmful.

  assessed six times immediately after each of the six videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment

• Perceived appeal of e-cigarettes

  Description: Responses to the following questions: using e-cigarette is: not cool/cool, unattractive/attractive 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=0.94).

  Assessed six times immediately after each of the six videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment

• Susceptibility to e-cigarette use

  Susceptibility to e-cigarette use was measured (among never-users of e-cigarettes), using the validated three-item scale (indicating peer influence, intention, and curiosity about e-cigarette use) 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."

  Assessed six times immediately after each of the six videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment

• Perceived influencer credibility

  Perceived 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 six times immediately after each of the six videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment

Study Arms (4)

Videos featuring young influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-related activities

EXPERIMENTAL

a 10 second video clip

Other: Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing

Videos featuring older influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-related activities

EXPERIMENTAL

a 10 second video clip

Other: Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing

Videos featuring young influencers promoting e-cigarettes without fitness-related activities

EXPERIMENTAL

a 10 second video clip

Other: Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing

Videos featuring older influencers promoting e-cigarettes without fitness-related activities

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

a 10 second video clip

Other: Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing

Interventions

Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing OTHER

Participants watched online survey-imbedded promotional videos featuring influencers. Influencer age appearance was manipulated using AI-based age filter.

Videos featuring older influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-related activities; Videos featuring older influencers promoting e-cigarettes without fitness-related activities; Videos featuring young influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-related activities; Videos featuring young influencers promoting e-cigarettes without fitness-related activities

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 14 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 the following criteria:
• years of age,
• English fluency,
• Current California resident.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Southern California: lead
• Tobacco Related Disease Research Program: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Qualtrics, survey was administered online

Seattle, Washington, 98101, United States

Location

Related Links

• Related Info

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Vaping

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Smoking; Behavior

Study Officials

• Jennifer B Unger, PhD

  University of Southern California

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

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 young- or older-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-related activities or without such activities

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 1, 2026
• First Posted: February 19, 2026
• Study Start: July 16, 2025
• Primary Completion: August 1, 2025
• Study Completion: August 1, 2025
• Last Updated: February 19, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)