Examining influencer compliance with advertising regulations in branded vaping content on Instagram

Youth and young adults are exposed to vaping advertisements on social media sites, despite regulations and guidelines intended to reduce the prevalence of such content on these platforms. This research uses replicable criteria to identify vaping influencers who have worked with vaping brands to promote vaping products on Instagram and documents the extent to which posts by these users comply with existing advertising regulations.

We conducted three google searches collecting eight different vaping influencer lists, with a total of 575 unique influencers. We limited our sample to public accounts with 100,000 followers or more (n = 54). An initial sample of 360 Instagram posts was used to identify an analytic sample of 262 vape-related posts from 2021. We conducted a conceptual content analysis to first identify unambiguous vaping advertisements (branded content), and then code ads for compliance with existing regulations.

On average, the 54 Instagram accounts had 265,851.9 followers (sd = 383,349.8) and 4,158 posts (sd = 7,302.1). Most posts featured vaping products 239 (91.2%), with 186 (76.2%) posts being unambiguously branded vape advertisements and 31 (14.3%) even including purchase links in the post itself. However, one post complied with FTC disclosure guidelines. Although 50 (20.9%) had warning labels, only 8 (15.1%) were fully compliant with FDA warning label guidelines.

Findings demonstrate minimal compliance with existing regulations among influencers known to have financial relationships with vaping brands. Most influencer posts are unambiguous, branded, vaping advertisements. Implications for barriers to regulating influencer content and the need for greater enforcement resources are discussed.