IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v22y2025i8p1285-d1726197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Promotion of Health-Harming Products on Instagram: Characterizing Strategies Boosting Audience Engagement with Cigar Marketing Messages

Author

Listed:
  • Ganna Kostygina

    (Ganna Kostygina, Principal Research Scientist, Social Data Collaboratory, NORC at the University of Chicago, 55 E Monroe Street, 30th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, USA)

  • Hy Tran

    (Ganna Kostygina, Principal Research Scientist, Social Data Collaboratory, NORC at the University of Chicago, 55 E Monroe Street, 30th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, USA)

  • Chandler C. Carter

    (Ganna Kostygina, Principal Research Scientist, Social Data Collaboratory, NORC at the University of Chicago, 55 E Monroe Street, 30th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, USA)

  • Sherry L. Emery

    (Ganna Kostygina, Principal Research Scientist, Social Data Collaboratory, NORC at the University of Chicago, 55 E Monroe Street, 30th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, USA)

Abstract

Social media promotion of harmful products (e.g., combustible tobacco) poses a public health threat. However, strategies that amplify exposure to and engagement with such content remain understudied. This study aims to characterize strategies boosting cigar, little cigar, and cigarillo (CLCC) marketing visibility, referrals, and engagement on Instagram. Using keyword rules, we collected publicly available CLCC-related Instagram posts from CrowdTangle for a six-year period from August 2016 to October 2021. Posts were categorized as commercial (e.g., posts by tobacco brands or vendors) or organic and were coded for consumer engagement (CE) strategies (e.g., presence of prompts to like/share) using a combination of machine learning methods and human coding. Temporal engagement trends were analyzed using metadata. A total of 320,488 CLCC-related public posts were collected, with 44.6% ( n = 142,875) identified as overtly commercial. Of these, 33.5% ( n = 47,832) contained CE cues, including discounts and giveaways for tagging peers, liking, commenting, or following CLCC brands and spokesperson/influencers accounts, as well as calls to participate in contests and polls. Overtly commercial CE messages consistently garnered more comments per post and likes per post than non-CE commercial posts. There was a significant upward trend in the rate of comments on CE posts, suggesting growing effectiveness in eliciting user interaction. The proliferation of and high level of engagement with cigar-related promotional messages on Instagram demonstrate the need for public health surveillance and regulation of the evolving strategies promoting CLCC marketing exposure, reach, and engagement on social media.

Suggested Citation

  • Ganna Kostygina & Hy Tran & Chandler C. Carter & Sherry L. Emery, 2025. "Promotion of Health-Harming Products on Instagram: Characterizing Strategies Boosting Audience Engagement with Cigar Marketing Messages," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(8), pages 1-15, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:8:p:1285-:d:1726197
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/8/1285/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/8/1285/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonine Jancey & Tama Leaver & Katharina Wolf & Becky Freeman & Kevin Chai & Stella Bialous & Marilyn Bromberg & Phoebe Adams & Meghan Mcleod & Renee N. Carey & Kahlia McCausland, 2023. "Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok and Regulatory Considerations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-10, May.
    2. Daniel Ershov & Yanting He & Stephan Seiler, 2025. "Frontiers: How Much Influencer Marketing Is Undisclosed? Evidence from Twitter," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(3), pages 505-515, May.
    3. Cantrell, J. & Kreslake, J.M. & Ganz, O. & Pearson, J.L. & Vallone, D. & Anesetti-Rothermel, A. & Xiao, H. & Kirchner, T.R., 2013. "Marketing little cigars and cigarillos: Advertising, price, and associations with neighborhood demographics," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(10), pages 1902-1909.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Campos-Rivera, Paola Abril & Alfaro-Ponce, Berenice & Ramírez-Pérez, Michelle & Bernal-Serrano, Daniel & Contreras-Loya, David & Wirtz, Veronika J., 2025. "Quality of information and social norms in Spanish-speaking TikTok videos as levers of commercial practices: The case of semaglutide," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
    2. Aaron Broun & Lilianna Phan & Danielle A. Duarte & Aniruddh Ajith & Bambi Jewett & Erin L. Mead-Morse & Kelvin Choi & Julia Chen-Sankey, 2022. "Physical and Sociocultural Community-Level Influences on Cigar Smoking among Black Young Adults: An In-Depth Interview Investigation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Aniruddh Ajith & Aaron Broun & Danielle A. Duarte & Bambi Jewett & Lilianna Phan & Erin L. Mead-Morse & Mignonne C. Guy & Kelvin Choi & Julia Chen-Sankey, 2021. "Cigar-Smoking-Cessation Interest and Experience among Black Young Adults: A Semi-Structured In-Depth Interview Investigation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-13, July.
    4. Dawnyéa D. Jackson & Emily C. Sanders & Molly Barry & Dana E. Wagner & Megan Wall Vigorita & Mario A. Navarro, 2022. "Unpacking Cigar Product Familiarity and Terminology among Black and Hispanic Youth: It’s All about Blunts," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-11, February.
    5. Sabrina L. Smiley & Stephanie Kim & Alia Mourali & Jon-Patrick Allem & Jennifer B. Unger & Tess Boley Cruz, 2020. "Characterizing #Backwoods on Instagram: “The Number One Selling All Natural Cigar”," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-8, June.
    6. Joseph G. L. Lee & Adam O. Goldstein & William K. Pan & Kurt M. Ribisl, 2015. "Relationship Between Tobacco Retailers’ Point-of-Sale Marketing and the Density of Same-Sex Couples, 97 U.S. Counties, 2012," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-21, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:8:p:1285-:d:1726197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.