Vaping on TikTok: a systematic thematic analysis

• Published in: Tobacco control Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 251 - 254
• Main Authors: Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C.W., Chung, Jack, Cheng, Brandon, Davidson, Lily, Tisdale, Calvert, Leung, Janni, Gartner, Coral E, Connor, Jason, Hall, Wayne D, Chan, Gary C.K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01.03.2023; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Addictions; Adolescent; Adolescents; advertising and Promotion; Brief report; Cigarettes; Comedies; Content analysis; Creativity; Electronic cigarettes; electronic nicotine delivery devices; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems; Humans; Lifestyles; Marketing; Nicotine; Smoking; social marketing; Social Media; Social networks; Tagging; Teenagers; Tobacco Products; URLs; User generated content; Vaping; Video; United States > US; electronic nicotine delivery devices; social marketing; advertising and Promotion
• ISSN: 0964-4563; 1468-3318
• DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2021-056619

IntroductionThe rising popularity of TikTok among adolescents may influence their awareness and perceptions of e-cigarette use via user-generated content. This study aimed to examine how e-cigarette/vaping-related videos are portrayed on TikTok.MethodsThe nine most viewed hashtag based keywords were used to identify popular e-cigarette/vaping-related videos on TikTok (n=1000) from its inception (earliest upload date: January 2019) to November 2020. Five researchers independently coded the number of views, likes, user category and theme.ResultsA final sample of 808 e-cigarette/vaping-related videos that met study criteria were included. Collectively, these videos were viewed over 1.5 billion times, with a median view count of 1 000 000 (range 112 900–78 600 000) and a median ‘likes’ count of 143 000 (range 10 000–1 000 000). A majority of the videos portrayed e-cigarette use positively (63%; collectively viewed over 1.1 billion times). Neutral depictions of e-cigarette use were viewed a total of 290 million times (24%) and negative depictions of e-cigarettes were viewed a total of 193 million times (13%). The video themes included (not mutually exclusively): ‘comedy and joke’ (52%; total of 618 million views), ‘lifestyle and acceptability’ (35%; 459 million), ‘marketing’ (29%; 392 million), ‘vaping tricks’ (20%; 487 million), ‘nicotine and addiction’ (20%; 194 million), ‘creativity’ (16%; 322 million) and ‘warning’ (11%; 131 million).ConclusionOur findings illustrated that positively framed e-cigarette and vaping-related postings available without age restrictions on TikTok—a rising video-sharing platform that is popular among adolescents—have been viewed many times. Effective age restrictions are needed to reduce adolescents’ potential exposure to videos that portray vaping positively.