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Completed

NCT Number: NCT07420842

Influencer Marketing and Adolescent E-cigarette Use

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.

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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

Qualtrics, survey was administered online

Seattle, Washington, 98101, United States

About this study

Adolescents (14-17 years of age) living in California were recruited by Qualtrics marketing research panel to participate in a survey on tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Qualtrics, a research panel agency, has been used in prior research to survey adolescents about their tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Participants were provided with a survey URL link. After completing informed consent, participants completed the survey online. The study was approved by the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (UP-CG-24-00013). Respondents were randomly assigned to watch six 10-second long Instagram and/or TikTok videos in four 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).

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,
  • Current California resident.

Exclusion criteria

Not meeting the following criteria:

  • 14-17 years of age,
  • English fluency,
  • Current California resident.

Treatment and study plan

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.

Primary outcomes

  1. Harm Perceptions of e-cigarettes

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

    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).

  3. Susceptibility to e-cigarette use

    Time frame: Assessed six times immediately after each of the six 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 six times immediately after each of the six 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.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Southern California

Other

Collaborators

  • Tobacco Related Disease Research Program

Registry information

Official study title

The Effect of Social Media Influencer Marketing on E-cigarette Perceptions and Use by Adolescents.

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Feb 19, 2026
Registry last updated
Feb 19, 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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