Chacon L, Mitchell G, Golder S
Department of Health Sciences, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom.
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2024 Jan 17;4(1):e0002736. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002736. eCollection 2024.
There is ongoing scientific and policy debate about the role e-cigarettes play in tobacco control, with concerns centring around unknown long-term effects, and the potential industry co-option of harm reduction efforts, including marketing to youths. There is substantial evidence of the influence of conventional cigarette promotion on smoking behaviours in Anglophone countries, and the popularity of social networking sites, as well as the lack of marketing regulations on the commercial promotion of electronic cigarettes online, suggest an urgent need to explore this topic further. This scoping review aims to map the existing evidence related to the influence of e-cigarette commercial promotion on social media on positive perceptions of vaping and vaping behaviours in core Anglophone countries. Searches were conducted in CENTRAL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Embase, Epistemonikos, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Science Citation Index, on the 21st of July 2022. From 1,385 studies, 11 articles were included in the final review, using diverse study designs, including focus groups, content analysis, cross-sectional studies, and experiments. The studies were primarily based in the U.S. and evidenced the association between the commercial promotion of e-cigarettes on social media with positive perceptions of vaping and vaping behaviours, particularly among young people, addressing diverse themes including celebrities' sponsorship, e-liquid appeal (including flavours and nicotine levels), users' engagement with ads, and other marketing strategies. Further, social networking sites commercially promoting e-cigarettes might increase positive attitudes towards vaping and vaping behaviours, particularly among youths. Future research should be conducted in broader settings, incorporate larger and diverse sample sizes, ensure research transparency, cover multiple social networking sites, emphasize ecological validity, and foment longitudinal studies.
关于电子烟在烟草控制中所起的作用，目前存在科学和政策方面的争论，人们关注的焦点集中在未知的长期影响，以及烟草行业对减少危害努力的潜在利用，包括向年轻人进行营销。有大量证据表明，在英语国家，传统香烟促销对吸烟行为有影响，而且社交网站很受欢迎，同时，对于电子烟在网上的商业推广缺乏营销监管，这表明迫切需要进一步探讨这一话题。本范围综述旨在梳理与电子烟在社交媒体上的商业推广对主要英语国家电子烟的积极认知和电子烟行为的影响相关的现有证据。于2022年7月21日在Cochrane系统评价中心数据库（CENTRAL）、Cochrane系统评价数据库（CDSR）、Embase、Epistemonikos、医学期刊数据库（MEDLINE）、心理学文摘数据库（PsycINFO）和科学引文索引中进行了检索。从1385项研究中，最终纳入综述的有11篇文章，这些文章采用了多种研究设计，包括焦点小组、内容分析、横断面研究和实验。这些研究主要以美国为基础，证明了社交媒体上电子烟的商业推广与对电子烟的积极认知和电子烟行为之间的关联，特别是在年轻人中，涉及了包括名人赞助、电子烟液吸引力（包括口味和尼古丁含量）、用户与广告的互动以及其他营销策略等不同主题。此外，在商业上推广电子烟的社交网站可能会增加对电子烟和电子烟行为的积极态度，尤其是在年轻人中。未来的研究应在更广泛的环境中进行，纳入更大规模和更多样化的样本，确保研究透明度，涵盖多个社交网站，强调生态效度，并推动纵向研究。
