Tagging vaping-related influencer Instagram posts is effective to discourage young people

Social media influencers vaping glamorously into their social media feeds are often not doing so for free. And new research suggests that calling out their pay-to-play posts as advertisements in a plain, obvious way might have an impact on young people. A study of 200 teens and young adults used eye-tracking technology to determine that tagging vaping-related influencer Instagram posts with #ad or #sponsored were effective in grabbing attention. The study appears online in the Journal of Health Communication. The e-cigarette industry is paying these social media celebrities to do what they do best — shape young people’s behavior. And our study gives us some hope that placing labels on these posts might be an effective tool to discourage young people from picking up a harmful habit.” Liz Klein, Study Lead Author and Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, Ohio State University “These people are called ‘influencers’ for a reason. They get an amazing amount of attention, particularly from teens and young adults, and when they post about e-cigarettes they typically make zero references to the fact they’ve been paid by the industry to make these posts,” she said. Industry-backed social media activity is considered commercial sponsorship and…
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