Han Eileen, Lempert Lauren K, Vescia Francesca, Halpern-Felsher Bonnie
Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
REACH Lab, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2024 Dec 27;8:e54661. doi: 10.2196/54661.
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are the most used form of tobacco products among adolescents and young adults, and Vuse is one of the most popular brands of e-cigarettes among US adolescents. In October 2021, Vuse Solo became the first e-cigarette brand to receive marketing granted orders (MGOs) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), authorizing its marketing and their tobacco-flavored pods. Vuse Ciro and Vuse Vibe, and their tobacco-only ("original") e-liquids, were authorized for marketing in May 2022 and Vuse Alto tobacco-flavored devices were authorized in July 2024. These marketing authorizations are contingent upon the company adhering to the MGOs' stated marketing restrictions, including reducing exposure and appeal to youth via digital, radio, television, print, and point-of-sale advertising.
In this study, we analyzed the official social media channels of Vuse (Instagram and Facebook) to examine how Vuse marketed its products on social media and whether these marketing posts contain potentially youth-appealing themes.
We conducted content analysis of the official RJ Reynolds Vapor Company Instagram and Facebook accounts. We collected all posts from October 10, 2019, when RJ Reynolds Vapor Company submitted its premarket tobacco product application to the FDA, to February 21, 2022, to cover the first winter holiday season after the MGO. Two coders developed the codebook with 17 themes based on the Content Appealing to Youth index to capture the posts' characteristics and potentially youth-appealing content. We calculated the percentage of posts in which each code was present.
A total of 439 unique posts were identified. During this study's period, there were no posts on Instagram or Facebook marketing Vuse Solo (the authorized product at that time). Instead, Vuse Alto (unauthorized to date of study) was heavily marketed, with 59.5% (n=261) of the posts specifically mentioning the product name. Further, "Vuse" more generally was marketed on social media without differentiating between the authorized and unauthorized products (n=182, 41.5%). The marketing messages contained several potentially youth-appealing themes including creativity or innovation (n=189, 43.1%), individuality or freedom (n=106, 24.2%), and themes related to art (n=150, 34.2%), music (n=77, 17.5%), sports (n=125, 28.5%), nature (with n=49, 11.2% of the posts containing flora imageries), alcohol imagery (n=10, 2.3%), and technology (n=6, 1.4%).
Although Vuse Alto e-cigarettes had not yet obtained FDA marketing authorization during the 28 months of data collection, they were the primary Vuse e-cigarette devices marketed on social media. Vuse social media posts use themes that are appealing to and likely promote youth use, including creativity and innovation, individuality or freedom, arts and music, nature, technology, and alcohol imagery. The FDA should (1) prohibit companies from comarketing unauthorized products alongside authorized products, and (2) exercise enforcement against even authorized products that are marketed using youth-appealing features.
电子烟是青少年和青年中使用最广泛的烟草制品形式，而Vuse是美国青少年中最受欢迎的电子烟品牌之一。2021年10月，Vuse Solo成为首个获得美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）营销批准令（MGOs）的电子烟品牌，该批准令授权其进行营销以及销售其烟草口味的烟弹。Vuse Ciro和Vuse Vibe及其仅含烟草的（“原味”）电子烟液于2022年5月获得营销授权，Vuse Alto烟草口味设备于2024年7月获得授权。这些营销授权取决于公司遵守MGOs规定的营销限制，包括通过数字、广播、电视、印刷和销售点广告减少对年轻人的接触和吸引力。
在本研究中，我们分析了Vuse（Instagram和Facebook）的官方社交媒体渠道，以研究Vuse如何在社交媒体上营销其产品，以及这些营销帖子是否包含可能吸引年轻人的主题。
我们对雷诺美国烟草公司（RJ Reynolds Vapor Company）的Instagram和Facebook官方账号进行了内容分析。我们收集了从2019年10月10日（当时RJ Reynolds Vapor Company向FDA提交其上市前烟草产品申请）到2022年2月21日的所有帖子，以涵盖MGO发布后的第一个寒假季节。两名编码员根据“吸引年轻人的内容指数”制定了包含17个主题的编码手册，以捕捉帖子的特征和可能吸引年轻人的内容。我们计算了每个代码出现的帖子百分比。
共识别出439条独特的帖子。在本研究期间，Instagram或Facebook上没有关于营销Vuse Solo（当时已获授权的产品）的帖子。相反，Vuse Alto（在研究期间尚未获授权）却被大量营销，59.5%（n = 261）的帖子特别提到了该产品名称。此外，“Vuse”在社交媒体上被更广泛地营销，未区分已获授权和未获授权的产品（n = 182，41.5%）。营销信息包含几个可能吸引年轻人的主题，包括创造力或创新（n = 189，43.1%）、个性或自由（n = 106，24.2%）以及与艺术（n = 150，34.2%）、音乐（n = 77，17.5%）、体育（n = 125，28.5%）、自然（49条帖子中有植物图像，占11.2%）、酒精图像（n = 10，2.3%）和科技（n = 6，1.4%）相关的主题。
尽管在28个月的数据收集期间，Vuse Alto电子烟尚未获得FDA的营销授权，但它们是在社交媒体上营销的主要Vuse电子烟设备。Vuse的社交媒体帖子使用了吸引并可能促进年轻人使用的主题，包括创造力和创新、个性或自由、艺术和音乐、自然、科技以及酒精图像。FDA应（1）禁止公司将未获授权的产品与已获授权的产品联合营销，以及（2）对即使是使用吸引年轻人特征进行营销的已获授权产品实施执法行动。
