1. Attitudes Towards E-Cigarette Online Advertising: A Pilot Study
School of Applied Sciences: Psychology Division
Attitudes Towards E-Cigarette Online Advertising: A Pilot Study
Paula Booth, Ian Albery & Daniel Frings
Introduction: Advertising of e-cigarettes has expanded exponentially since the introduction of these products (1). Yet, to date few studies have been carried out to investigate the effects of advertising e-cigarettes on attitudes towards tobacco and e-cigarettes (2-5).This pilot study was carried out to identify an image that would be used in a larger-scale study to assess explicit and implicit attitude ratings before and after viewing an advertisement. Adverts were labelled with themes and cognitive and emotional aspects were assessed to determine if some aspects were more effective in changing attitudes than others.
Method: Participants scored how socially acceptable, healthy and desirable they found tobacco and e-cigarettes pre and post viewing of 1 of 15 images. Additionally, they rated the advert on cognitive and emotional aspects. The survey was developed on Qualtrics and participants were recruited from CrowdFlower, a crowdsourced rating platform. Data from 776 (428=female) aged between 18 and 74 years were included (M=34).
Results: Overall, participants gave e-cigarettes significantly higher ratings compared to tobacco cigarettes for social acceptability, health and desire both before (p<.001) and after (p<.001) viewing an advert. Scores for health, t(775)=-3.88, p<.001, and desire, t(775)=-2.56, p=.011, for e-cigarettes both got significantly higher after viewing an advert, but social acceptability t(775)=2.87, p=.004 became significantly lower. Conversely, health scores, t(775)=-2.38, p=.017, for tobacco cigarettes became significantly higher after viewing an advert but lower for social acceptability, t(775)=4.27, p<.001, and desire, t(775)=-15.44, p<.001.
p<.001
p<.01
p<.05
*** ** * ** *
***
***
*** *
Table of Adverts with Themes, Cognitive Scores and Attitude Changes.
Health
Desire
Social Acceptability
Range 1-100
Significant difference in attitude between BL and Test (p<.05)
Advert description; theme
Aggregate
Cognitive
Scores
Health
Desire
Socially Acceptable
1. Woman Boxing; Healthy
61.96
2. Mans Face Vaping; Like Smoking
63.35 T
3. Woman Finger Up to Smoking; Vape Anywhere
56.13 E
4. Womans Face Vaping; Like Smoking
70.37
5. Two Attractive Women Sharing an ECig
34.75
6. Humorous – No Regrets; Smoke Anywhere
35.89
7. Crowd of Happy People; Quit
51.70
T E
8. People in a Photo Booth; Sociable
51.77
9. Graveyard Full of Cigarette Butts; Quit
50.06
10. Skull Smoking ‘Smoking Kills’; Quit
71.46
11. ‘Are You Pumped’ at Sports Game; Sociable
49.72
12. Self Belief – Diving Off A Cliff; Inspiring
66.94
13. Tired of Breathing Tar? Man Vaping; Quit
58.80
14. Vaping Is Life - Image of Skyline; Inspiring
36.91
T E
15. Poster for Lord of the Rings; Celebrity Appeal
63.88
Figure of Attitude Scores at Baseline and Test.
Results from multiple linear regression analysis showed that theme, age group (18-25y, 26y>), image and smoking group (smokers, vapers, non-smokers, dual users) were not predictive of a change in attitude. The cognitive aggregate score significantly predicted a change in attitude for health, desire and social acceptability for tobacco and e-cigarettes but this variable only explained between 1% and 7% of the variance.
When the images were grouped into themes and attitude changed analysed, there was a main effect of themes for how healthy, F(6,768)=2.422 p=.025, F(6,768)=2.288 p=.034 desirable and socially acceptable F(6,768)=2.425 p=.025 participants found e-cigarettes. Adverts with a ‘vape anywhere’ theme had a significantly lower increase in health and desire scores than adverts with a ‘quit theme’ and a lower increase in desire and social acceptability scores than adverts with a ‘sociable’ theme. No effect of theme was found on attitude change to tobacco cigarettes.
Conclusion: Scores for desire and social acceptance of tobacco cigarettes decreased after viewing an e-cig advert, conversely scores for health and desire for e-cigs increased . Adverts with a ‘vape anywhere’ theme were less effective than those with a ‘quit’ or ‘sociable’ theme for increasing positive attitudes to e-cigs. Theme had no effect on attitudes towards tobacco cigarettes. Aggregate scores for persuasiveness, engagement and effectiveness of the advert could predict a change in attitude but for only a very small percentage of the variability.
Notes: Cognitive Aggregate Score = Persuasiveness, Engagement and Effectiveness; T = Tobacco; E = E-cigs.
Image no 4 was chosen for the main study as it had a very high cognitive aggregate score but had no anti-smoking connotation.
References
Bauld L, Angus K, De AM. E-cigarette uptake and marketing: A report commissioned by Public Health England.
Nagelhout GE, Heijndijk SM, Cummings KM, Willemsen MC, van den Putte B, Heckman BW, Hummel K, de Vries H, Hammond D, Borland R. Noticing e-cigarette advertisements and associations with use of e-cigarettes, disapproval of smoking, and quitting smoking. Findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Netherlands Survey. International Journal of Drug Policy Dec 21.
Maloney EK, Cappella JN. Does Vaping in E-Cigarette Advertisements Affect Tobacco Smoking Urge, Intentions, and Perceptions in Daily, Intermittent, and Former Smokers?. Health communication Jan 2;31(1):129-38
Farrelly, Matthew C., et al. "A Randomized Trial of the Effect of E-cigarette TV Advertisements on Intentions to Use E-cigarettes." American journal of preventive medicine 49.5 (2015):
Kim AE, Lee YO, Shafer P, Nonnemaker J, Makarenko O. Adult smokers’ receptivity to a television advert for electronic nicotine delivery systems. Tobacco control Oct 3:tobaccocontrol-2013.
Grant Number: C54622/A To find out more