Racial/ethnic disparities in exposure to e-cigarette advertising among U.S. youth

V V Do; C A Spears; P M Ling; M P Eriksen; S R Weaver; T F Pechacek; A L Nyman; S L Emery; C J Berg; J Huang

doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2024.02.011

Racial/ethnic disparities in exposure to e-cigarette advertising among U.S. youth

Public Health. 2024 May:230:89-95. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2024.02.011. Epub 2024 Mar 22.

Authors

V V Do¹, C A Spears², P M Ling³, M P Eriksen², S R Weaver¹, T F Pechacek², A L Nyman², S L Emery⁴, C J Berg⁵, J Huang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
² Department of Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
³ Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Division of General Internal Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁴ NORC at University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁵ Department of Prevention & Community Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
⁶ Department of Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: jhuang17@gsu.edu.

PMID: 38521029
DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2024.02.011

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to assess exposure to e-cigarette advertising across multiple marketing channels among U.S. youth and to examine whether racial/ethnic disparities exist in exposure to e-cigarette advertisements.

Study design: This is a cross-sectional study.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were drawn from a longitudinal survey of participants recruited from two nationally representative panels (NORC's AmeriSpeak® and GfK's KnowledgePanel). A total of 2043 youth aged 13-17 completed the initial 2018 survey, and 2013 youth completed the follow-up survey in 2019 (including a replenishment sample of 690 youth). Outcome variables were self-reported e-cigarette advertisement exposure in the past three months through various sources, such as television, point of sale, and online/social media. Generalized estimating equation models were used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (AOR) of the association between racial/ethnic identity and e-cigarette advertisement exposure.

Results: The prevalence of reported exposure to e-cigarette advertisements through any channel was 79.8% (95% CI: 77.1-82.2) in 2018 and 74.9% (95% CI: 72.5-77.1) in 2019, respectively. Point of sale was the most common source of e-cigarette advertisement exposure in both years. Non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic Asian youth were more likely to report exposure to e-cigarette advertisements through television (AOR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.44-2.99 and AOR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.17-3.82, respectively) and online/social media (AOR = 1.61; 95% CI: 1.11-2.33 and AOR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.10-3.59, respectively) channels compared with non-Hispanic White youth.

Conclusions: A substantial proportion of U.S. youth reported exposure to e-cigarette advertising through a variety of marketing channels. Significant racial/ethnic disparities existed, with non-Hispanic Black and Asian youth reporting more marketing exposure than their non-Hispanic White counterparts.

Keywords: Advertising; E-cigarettes; Marketing; Racial/ethnic disparities.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Advertising
Cross-Sectional Studies
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems*
Humans
Marketing
Tobacco Products*

Grants and funding

R01 CA194681/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States