Social media increases underage e-cigarette consumption

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US expert says e-cigarettes also negatively impact health

By Jin Yu-young

When Annice Kim first pursued a bachelor's degree in molecular and cell biology-neurobiology, she realized that the medical field was not only limited to being a doctor. It also meant making health care accessible to those who could not afford it.

After graduation, she worked at a pharmaceutical company. There she became interested in the tobacco industry and e-cigarettes, whose rapid popularity over the past few years and correlation with the digital social media landscape led to her extensive work as a senior scientist and director at RTI International.

She currently works in the company's Health Media Impact and Digital Analytics Program, where she helps develop regulatory policies to better protect online users.

“In public health research, there's been a lot of interest regarding who's using social media, who's making claims, and if these claims are substantiated facts or not,” Kim said in a Korea Times interview on Thursday.

“The beauty of social media is that it is a democratizing medium… anyone has access to it and has the freedom to post what they want. But if you're a government agency trying to put out correct information, you have to be constantly monitoring for false claims and ensuring that published facts have been backed up by research.”

A possible method of online surveillance is to implement a product-by-product policy, meaning that companies can only release information about a certain product after its claims have met a set of government regulations.

As effective as these policies are, however, they have their limits.

This poses a danger to the youth, the most vulnerable age group, who have accounted for the spike in e-cigarette sales over the past few years.

Annice Kim during a Korea Times interview on Thursday / Korea Times

“E-cigarettes are an electronic nicotine delivery system that don't carry the same toxic chemicals as combustible cigarettes, but still negatively impact our health due to the nicotine,” Kim said. “Nicotine is an addictive substance and when used at a young age, alters your brain chemistry and development, and has immediate health consequences.”

Although e-cigarettes were originally marketed as a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes, many consumers are middle to high school students with no previous smoking history.

The unexpected consumer demographic raised concerns among public health researchers, who found that despite low advertising levels by e-cigarette companies, exposure on social media sites and internet threads were significant in influencing minors to purchase and use the products without proper awareness of the associated health risks.

This further strengthens the need for effective online regulatory policies to ensure that “companies that are selling age-restricted products can sell them, but only to their niche-targeted age group.”

Anti-marketing campaigns also play a significant role in decreasing underage consumption. Graphic images involve a shock factor and are especially effective in deterring young people.

“In today's media landscape, you have to stand out to grab someone's attention, even more so nowadays, as we're all consumed by our digital devices,” Kim says. “The 'Truth Campaign' launched in the late 1990's was the first really attention-grabbing campaign because it was the first time the tobacco industry was exposed.”

She also mentioned the effect of the graphic health warning labels, which are placed directly on cigarette packs. “Seoul has some really good ones, and they can be used to deter customers who see them on the actual pack.” Other forms of anti-smoking advertising include testimonials of successful quitters and support-based campaigns such as the FDA's “Every Try Counts” campaign.

One of Kim's ultimate goals is creating a safer online environment for the youth through collaborative efforts with government agencies, social media companies, and the public sphere.

“It's not just about if social media is bad or good. That doesn't help, and we need to move past that to talk about the harder topics. Everyone wants to gain something out of social media, so the bigger question is how to figure out a way to give people what they want, but still create a guardrail so kids aren't exposed to the things that are age-restricted.” Her work is not only limited to tobacco and e-cigarettes but also extends to opioids and other drugs.

Annice Kim works with the FDA as well as other health agencies in the U.S .to improve public health surveillance create better policies for social media.

Jin Yu-young is a Korea Times intern.