Content Analysis of Tobacco Brands' "Tagged" Section on Instagram
Scott I Donaldson1,2, Kathryn La Capria1, Amanda DeJesus1
1Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Newark, NJ, USA.
Introduction:
Brands can be "tagged" in Instagram posts to communicate a partnership with a social media influencer. Little is known about the content of these communications in the tobacco-related literature. To address this gap, this study identified tagged posts on the official Instagram pages of tobacco brands and described the themes of such posts.
Methods:
Six tobacco brands with official Instagram pages were identified. Each tagged section of the brand's official Instagram page was examined to identify potential partnerships with social media influencers. Posts to the tagged section of the Instagram page were collected from November 2022 to February 2024. For each post, tobacco-related themes were coded.
Results:
This study identified 594 tagged posts from 222 potential social media influencers. The most common theme among tagged posts was product presence (n = 430, 72.4%), followed by branding (n = 421, 70.9%). Young adults were identified in 40.4% (n = 240) of posts. Among users who tagged a brand account, 96.1% (n = 571) of their account profiles contained URL links to commercial Web sites, suggesting social media influencer status.
Conclusions:
This study showed that the tagged section of tobacco brands' Instagram pages contained posts suggestive of paid partnerships between the brand and social media influencers. These posts often featured tobacco use and young adults. Future research should examine whether the presence of (or accessibility to) URL links to commercial Web sites appearing on influencers' pages increases an Instagram user's purchase intentions and tobacco use initiation.
Implications:
This study showed that the "tagged" sections of the official Instagram pages of six tobacco brands featured tobacco use, contained links to commercial Web sites, avoided content about addiction, and revealed that social media influencers inconsistently disclosed financial relationships with tobacco brands. In addition to enforcing and bolstering online marketing restrictions, prevention programs and interventions may focus on tobacco-related digital media literacy to help inoculate young adults against the protobacco online environment.
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