## Protocol Section
### Identification Module
**NCT ID:** NCT06433466

**Brief Title:** Influencer Marketing: a Survey-based Experiment

**Official Title:** The Impact of Instagram and TikTok Influencer Marketing on Perceptions of E-cigarettes in Young Adults: a Survey-based Experiment

#### Organization Study ID Info
**ID:** unidentified
#### Organization
**Class:** OTHER
**Full Name:** University of Southern California
### Status Module
#### Completion Date
**Date:** 2023-06-30

**Type:** ACTUAL

#### Expanded Access Info
#### Last Update Post Date
**Date:** 2024-05-29

**Type:** ACTUAL

**Last Update Submit Date:** 2024-05-22

**Overall Status:** COMPLETED

#### Primary Completion Date
**Date:** 2023-06-30

**Type:** ACTUAL

#### Start Date
**Date:** 2023-05-01

**Type:** ACTUAL

**Status Verified Date:** 2024-05

#### Study First Post Date
**Date:** 2024-05-29
**Type:** ACTUAL
**Study First Submit Date:** 2024-05-14
**Study First Submit QC Date:** 2024-05-22
### Sponsor Collaborators Module

#### Lead Sponsor

**Class:** OTHER

**Name:** University of Southern California

#### Responsible Party

**Investigator Affiliation:** University of Southern California

**Investigator Full Name:** Jennifer Unger

**Investigator Title:** Professor

**Type:** PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

### Oversight Module

**Is FDA Regulated Device:** False

**Is FDA Regulated Drug:** False

### Description Module

**Brief Summary:** Young adults (N = 1,500) will participate in the online survey-based experiment. They will be randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group), or a healthy lifestyle activity alone (control). After watching each video, participants will rate perceptions of influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge, attractiveness, intelligence, and popularity) on the scale of 0 (e.g., dishonest) to 100 (honest).

Among all participants, harm perceptions of e-cigarettes will be assessed. Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes will be assessed among never users. These outcomes will then be compared among participants who perceived influencers as credible and those who perceived influencers as non-credible.

**Detailed Description:** Young adults (18-24 years of age) living in California were recruited by YouGov marketing research panel to participate in a survey on tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. YouGov, a research panel agency, has been used in prior research to survey young adults about their tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Respondents (N=1,500) were matched to a sampling frame based on gender, age, race, and education. The sampling frame was a politically representative modeled frame of United States (U.S.) adults based on the American Community Survey. The matched cases were weighted to the sampling frame using a propensity score matching procedure. Participants were provided with a survey URL link. After completing informed consent, participants completed the survey online. The study was approved by the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (UP-21-00135). Respondents were randomly assigned to watch 10 10-second long TikTok videos in either experimental (influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities ) or control group (influencers showing healthy lifestyle activity alone).

### Conditions Module

**Conditions:**

- Vaping

### Design Module

#### Design Info

**Allocation:** RANDOMIZED

**Intervention Model:** FACTORIAL

##### Masking Info

**Masking:** NONE

**Primary Purpose:** OTHER

#### Enrollment Info

**Count:** 1500

**Type:** ACTUAL

**Phases:**

- NA

**Study Type:** INTERVENTIONAL

### Arms Interventions Module

#### Arm Group 1

**Description:** Young adults were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group).

**Intervention Names:**

- Other: Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities

**Label:** Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities

**Type:** EXPERIMENTAL

#### Arm Group 2

**Description:** Young adults were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting healthy lifestyle activity alone (control).

**Intervention Names:**

- Other: Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities

**Label:** Videos featuring influencers showing healthy lifestyle activities

**Type:** ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

### Interventions

#### Intervention 1

**Arm Group Labels:**

- Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities

- Videos featuring influencers showing healthy lifestyle activities

**Description:** Young adults were randomly shown 10 videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group), or a healthy lifestyle activity alone (control).

**Name:** Videos featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities

**Type:** OTHER

### Outcomes Module

#### Primary Outcomes

**Description:** Responses to the question, "Do you think vaping e-cigarettes is harmful to your health?" were measured on a Likert scale, ranging from "definitely yes" (1), "probably yes" (2), to "probably not (3)," "definitely not (4)." The measure represents one validated item from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH).

**Measure:** harm perceptions of e-cigarettes

**Time Frame:** one-time assessment after the experimental exposure (immediately post-treatment)

**Description:** Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes was measured (among never-users of e-cigarettes), using the validated three-item scale adapted from PATH, and combined into one variable (α=0.93). Consistent with prior research, the measure was dichotomized with responses "definitely not" to all items being coded as "not susceptible" and responses "probably not," "probably yes", or "definitely yes" being coded as "susceptible."

**Measure:** Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes

**Time Frame:** one-time assessment after the experimental exposure (immediately post-treatment)

**Description:** Perceptions of influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge, intelligence, attractiveness, and popularity) were assessed using a 0 (e.g., dishonest) -100 (e.g., honest) scale that has been validated in prior research.

**Measure:** Perceptions of influencer credibility

**Time Frame:** assessed 10 times after each video (during treatment, immediately after each video)

### Eligibility Module

**Eligibility Criteria:** Inclusion Criteria:

* 18-24 years of age,
* English fluency,
* Current California resident.

The survey was sampled to be representative by age group (18 to 24) and gender, and was weighted to be representative by age, gender, race, and educational attainment using propensity score weighting.

Exclusion Criteria:

Not meeting these criteria:

* 18-24 years of age,
* English fluency,
* Current California resident.

**Maximum Age:** 24 Years

**Minimum Age:** 18 Years

**Sex:** ALL

**Standard Ages:**

- ADULT

### Contacts Locations Module

#### Locations

**Location 1:**

**City:** Los Angeles

**Country:** United States

**Facility:** YouGov, online

**State:** California

**Zip:** 94102

### IPD Sharing Statement Module

**IPD Sharing:** NO

## Derived Section

### Misc Info Module

- Version Holder: 2024-05-31
