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NCT Number: NCT07694739

E-cigarette Social Media Marketing and Its Perceptions by Youth

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.

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Key information

Conditions

Vaping Behavior Smoking

Age range

14 year–17 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California, 90032, United States

Location contact

Jennifer Unger, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

3233330580

About this study

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) alongside e-cigarette marketing.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • 14-17 years of age,
  • English fluency,

Exclusion criteria

Not meeting the following criteria:

  • 14-17 years of age,
  • English fluency,

Treatment and study plan

Exposure to Influencer Age and Context Variations in E-Cigarette Marketing

Other

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.

Primary outcomes

  1. Harm Perceptions of e-cigarettes

    Time frame: Assessed 10 times immediately after each of the 10 videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment

    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.

  2. Perceived appeal of e-cigarettes

    Time frame: Assessed 10 times immediately after each of the 10 videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment

    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).

  3. Susceptibility to e-cigarette use

    Time frame: Assessed 10 times immediately after each of the 10 videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment

    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.

  4. Perceived influencer credibility

    Time frame: Assessed 10 times immediately after each of the 10 videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment

    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.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Jennifer B Unger, PI, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

(323) 442-7200

Julia Vassey, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

(323) 442-7200

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Southern California

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Registry information

Official study title

Evolution of Influencer-driven E-cigarette Marketing on Social Media and Its Effect on E-cigarette Perceptions and Use Patterns Among Adolescents

Important dates

Study start
2027
Primary completion
2028
Study completion
2030
First posted
Jul 10, 2026
Registry last updated
Jul 20, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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