Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020 Mar 1;208:107852. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.107852. Epub 2020 Jan 17.
Prior research has not examined whether tobacco brand websites vary content based on audience demographics. This study explored whether marketing content on tobacco brand websites varied by user ethnicity, gender or age group.
Participants (n = 32) were adult smokers, representing equal numbers of eight demographic groups: user ethnicity (Non-Hispanic White, Hispanic, African American, Asian), gender (women, men) and age (age 21-35, age 36+). This study examined 12 tobacco brand websites representing four tobacco product categories (cigarettes, cigar/cigarillos, smokeless tobacco, and e-cigarettes). From January 2016 to January 2017, participants coded websites for themes, interactive activities, and links to social media sites (n = 874 website visits). Logistic regression was used to analyze observed content by participant ethnicity, age and gender.
All themes, all interactive activities and all links to social media were observed at least once for each demographic category. Male participants were more likely to observe Harm reduction themes, while female participants were more likely to observe Promotion themes. Older participants were more likely to observe website features allowing them to select music, and request coupons. Compared to Non-Hispanic White participants, African American participants were more likely to observe links to social media sites.
Tobacco brand website content varied across ethnic, age and gender groups. These findings suggest that other factors, such as tobacco use behaviors, may influence marketing strategies participants recall or find appealing. The findings from this study can inform future regulatory activities and communication strategies aimed at countering pro-tobacco content online.
先前的研究尚未考察烟草品牌网站是否会根据受众人口统计学特征来改变内容。本研究探讨了烟草品牌网站的营销内容是否会因用户种族、性别或年龄组而异。
参与者（n=32）为成年吸烟者，代表了八个人口统计学群体的均等人数：用户种族（非西班牙裔白人、西班牙裔、非裔美国人、亚裔）、性别（女性、男性）和年龄（21-35 岁，36 岁以上）。本研究考察了 12 个烟草品牌网站，代表了四个烟草产品类别（香烟、雪茄/小雪茄、无烟烟草和电子烟）。从 2016 年 1 月至 2017 年 1 月，参与者对网站主题、互动活动以及与社交媒体网站的链接进行了编码（n=874 次网站访问）。使用逻辑回归分析参与者的种族、年龄和性别观察到的内容。
每个人口统计学类别都至少观察到了所有主题、所有互动活动和所有链接到社交媒体的内容。男性参与者更有可能观察到减少危害的主题，而女性参与者更有可能观察到促销主题。年龄较大的参与者更有可能观察到允许他们选择音乐和请求优惠券的网站功能。与非西班牙裔白人参与者相比，非裔美国参与者更有可能观察到社交媒体网站的链接。
烟草品牌网站的内容因种族、年龄和性别群体而异。这些发现表明，其他因素，如烟草使用行为，可能会影响参与者回忆或发现有吸引力的营销策略。本研究的结果可以为未来旨在对抗在线支持烟草内容的监管活动和沟通策略提供信息。
