People in E-Cigarette Ads Attract More Attention: An Eye-Tracking Study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Marketing Research

Background:

• Increasing prevalence of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among young adults.
• Potential influence of minimally regulated e-cigarette advertising on youth uptake.
• Need for empirical data on e-cigarette advertising appeal to inform policy.

Purpose of the Study:

• Examine the appeal of specific e-cigarette advertising features to young adults using eye-tracking.
• Identify which ad components (brand logo, product descriptor, people) garner the most visual attention.
• Provide evidence-based insights for potential e-cigarette advertising regulation.

Main Methods:

• Within-subjects design with 30 young adult participants (mean age = 20.0 years).
• Eye-tracking technology to measure dwell time and time to first fixation on ad areas of interest (AOIs).
• Assessment of harm perceptions pre- and post-ad exposure.

Main Results:

• Participants exhibited the longest dwell time on 'people' (2701 ms), followed by 'product descriptors' (924 ms) and 'brand logos' (672 ms).
• Fixation patterns followed the same order: people, product descriptors, brand logos.
• Participant sex influenced brand dwell time, and harm perceptions decreased post-viewing.

Conclusions:

• Visual attention to e-cigarette ads is significantly directed towards depictions of people.
• Findings offer initial evidence on the most appealing e-cigarette ad features for young adults.
• Results can inform the development of evidence-based policies for e-cigarette advertising regulation.