Young people’s engagement with e-cigarettes and their marketing: a mixed-methods, engaged project to co-produce recommendations for policy

Background: While adults’ use of e-cigarettes appears to be stable, evidence suggests that experimentation among young people has increased.

Despite differences in opinion within the public health community regarding the value of e-cigarettes in harm reduction for adults, there is broad consensus on the need to protect young people from this disruptive technology.

User-generated and influencer marketing content on social media represents a key influence on young people’s understandings of products.

It is essential to monitor the content that young people access related to e-cigarettes, understand how young people relate to that content, and to involve young people in the formulation of policy regarding e-cigarette products and their marketing.

Aims: 1) Document the nature of online user-generated and influencer marketing content related to e-cigarettes and explore how young people engage with that content. 2) Explore young people’s responses to, and engagement with, e-cigarettes and the broader e-cigarette marketing environment, including user-generated and influencer content, focusing on different product types and flavours, perceptions of harm and purchasing behaviours. 3) Co-produce with young people evidence-informed recommendations for e-cigarette policy and communication.

Methods: The research aims are addressed by three phases of research, supplemented by PPI activities, all conducted with young people aged 11-16. The outcomes of each phase will inform the subsequent phases.

Phase 1 comprises a scoping review of user-generated and influencer marketing content on social media popular among teenagers, followed by paired interviews with friendship pairs of young people to understand their engagement with that content.

Phase 2 comprises a quantitative survey of young people’s engagement with e-cigarette products and their marketing, building on measures used in past surveys to enable robust, long-term cross-sectional analysis.

Phase 3 comprises deliberative workshops to co-produce young people’s recommendations for policy related to e-cigarette products and their marketing.

How the results of this research will be used: A series of reports, journal articles and academic presentations will be produced based on the findings of the various parts of this programme of research, and key implications for policy and practice will be disseminated in blog posts and two stakeholder workshops with key parliamentary, third-sector and policy actors.

All data generated will be shared with vetted, legitimate research users to enable further examination.

Policy recommendations co-produced by informed, engaged young people will help to inform future policy actions and set research agendas.