Clinical trial NCT06919263: Influencer E-Cigarette and Cannabis Marketing: a Survey-Based Experiment Among Adolescents
Official title: Influencer E-Cigarette and Cannabis Marketing: a Survey-Based Experiment Among Adolescents
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems
Lead sponsor: University of Southern California
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2025-04-09
Enrollment: 1462
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 16
Maximum age (years): 17
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: FACTORIAL
Intervention model description: Images featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside cannabis products
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: Adolescent non-users of e-cigarettes and cannabis (N = 1,462) participated in the in-class survey-based experiment. They were randomly shown 3 pairs of images featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside cannabis, (experimental group), or no-substance use or display (placebo treatment), or e-cigarette promotion alone (control). After viewing each pair of images, participants rated perceptions of influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge) on the scale of 0 (e.g., dishonest) to 100 (honest).

Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes was assessed after participants viewed all the images. These outcomes were then compared among participants who perceived influencers as credible and those who perceived influencers as non-credible.

Detailed description: Adolescents (13-17 years of age) living in California were recruited by Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science at the University of Southern California (USC TCORS) to participate in the ADVANCE survey cohort focused on tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Participants completed the experiment, which was part of the survey at cohort's Wave 7, on Chromebooks in classroom. All participants provided informed consent and parental assent prior to participating in the experiment. The study was approved by the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (HS-19-00682-AM016). Respondents were randomly shown 3 pairs of images featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes (image 1) paired with cannabis (image 2), (experimental group), or no-substance use or display (two images featuring neutral profiles of influencers), (placebo treatment), or e-cigarette promotion (image 1) paired with a neutral profile (with no e-cigarette) of the influencer featured in image 1 (control).

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* English fluency,
* Current California resident.

Exclusion Criteria:

Not meeting these criteria:

* English fluency,
* Current California resident.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Perceptions of influencer credibility
timeFrame: assessed during the ~ 30-minute experiment, immediately after each of the three pairs of influencer images
measure: Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes
timeFrame: one-time assessment after the experimental exposure (immediately post-treatment)
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Los Angeles
country: United States
facility: University of Southern California
state: California
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Southern California
name: Gina Klemm
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References: