Influencer Marketing: a Survey-based Experiment

The Impact of Instagram and TikTok Influencer Marketing on Perceptions of E-cigarettes in Young Adults: a Survey-based Experiment

Young adults (N = 1,500) will participate in the online survey-based experiment. They will be randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group), or a healthy lifestyle activity alone (control). After watching each video, participants will rate perceptions of influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge, attractiveness, intelligence, and popularity) on the scale of 0 (e.g., dishonest) to 100 (honest).

Among all participants, harm perceptions of e-cigarettes will be assessed. Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes will be assessed among never users. These outcomes will then be compared among participants who perceived influencers as credible and those who perceived influencers as non-credible.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Vaping
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities

Detailed Description

Young adults (18-24 years of age) living in California were recruited by YouGov marketing research panel to participate in a survey on tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. YouGov, a research panel agency, has been used in prior research to survey young adults about their tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Respondents (N=1,500) were matched to a sampling frame based on gender, age, race, and education. The sampling frame was a politically representative modeled frame of United States (U.S.) adults based on the American Community Survey. The matched cases were weighted to the sampling frame using a propensity score matching procedure. 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-21-00135). Respondents were randomly assigned to watch 10 10-second long TikTok videos in either experimental (influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities ) or control group (influencers showing healthy lifestyle activity alone).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 1500
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 94102
      • YouGov, online

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18-24 years of age,
• English fluency,
• Current California resident.

The survey was sampled to be representative by age group (18 to 24) and gender, and was weighted to be representative by age, gender, race, and educational attainment using propensity score weighting.

Exclusion Criteria:

Not meeting these criteria:

• 18-24 years of age,
• English fluency,
• Current California resident.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities; Young adults were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group).	Other: Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities; Young adults were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group), or a healthy lifestyle activity alone (control).
Active Comparator: Videos featuring influencers showing healthy lifestyle activities; Young adults were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting healthy lifestyle activity alone (control).	Other: Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities; Young adults were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group), or a healthy lifestyle activity alone (control).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
harm perceptions of e-cigarettes	Responses to the question, "Do you think vaping e-cigarettes is harmful to your health?" were measured on a Likert scale, ranging from "definitely yes" (1), "probably yes" (2), to "probably not (3)," "definitely not (4)." The measure represents one validated item from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH).	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, intelligence, attractiveness, and popularity) were assessed using a 0 (e.g., dishonest) -100 (e.g., honest) scale that has been validated in prior research.	assessed 10 times after each video (during treatment, immediately after each video)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southern California

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 14, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 22, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): May 29, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 29, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 22, 2024
• Last Verified: May 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: unidentified

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No