Misleading Claims About Tobacco Products in YouTube Videos: Experimental Effects of Misinformation on Unhealthy Attitudes

Recent content analyses of YouTube postings reveal a proliferation of user generated videos with misleading statements about the health consequences of various types of nontraditional tobacco use (eg, electronic cigarettes; e-cigarettes). This research was aimed at obtaining evidence about the poten...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical Internet research 2018-06, Vol.20 (6), p.e229-e229
Main Authors: Albarracin, Dolores, Romer, Daniel, Jones, Christopher, Hall Jamieson, Kathleen, Jamieson, Patrick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Attitude
Attitudes
Chewing
Cigarettes
Communication
Content analysis
Electronic cigarettes
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems
False information
Female
Humans
Internet
Male
Misinformation
Original Paper
Smoking
Social Media - trends
Tobacco
Tobacco products
Tobacco Products - analysis
Tobacco Smoking - psychology
Video Recording - methods
Viewers
Young Adult
Young adults
Youth
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Summary:Recent content analyses of YouTube postings reveal a proliferation of user generated videos with misleading statements about the health consequences of various types of nontraditional tobacco use (eg, electronic cigarettes; e-cigarettes). This research was aimed at obtaining evidence about the potential effects of YouTube postings about tobacco products on viewers' attitudes toward these products. A sample of young adults recruited online (N=350) viewed one of four highly viewed YouTube videos containing misleading health statements about chewing tobacco, e-cigarettes, hookahs, and pipe smoking, as well as a control YouTube video unrelated to tobacco products. The videos about e-cigarettes and hookahs led to more positive attitudes toward the featured products than did control videos. However, these effects did not fully translate into attitudes toward combustive cigarette smoking, although the pipe video led to more positive attitudes toward combustive smoking than did the chewing and the hookah videos, and the e-cigarette video led to more positive attitudes toward combustive cigarette smoking than did the chewing video. This research revealed young people's reactions to misleading claims about tobacco products featured in popular YouTube videos. Policy implications are discussed.
ISSN:1438-8871
1439-4456
1438-8871
DOI:10.2196/jmir.9959