Describing ZYN-related content on TikTok: content analysis.

Abstract

Introduction: Nicotine pouches are the fastest-growing oral smokeless tobacco or nicotine product category in the United States, and there are concerns about their potential appeal to youth. Few studies have surveilled discussions about nicotine pouches on TikTok, an audiovisual platform popular among youth. To address this gap, this study conducted a content analysis of TikTok posts related to the leading nicotine pouch brand, ZYN.

Methods: Publicly available posts (N=665) from 10 ZYN-related hashtags were collected from the TikTok Application Programming Interface between January 2023 and February 2024. The number of likes, comments, shares, and plays were collected for each post and the number of followers for each account profile was recorded. Posts were coded for themes like product marketing and use, health warnings, and demographics.

Results: The most prevalent theme was humor (n=581, 87.4%), followed by product use (n=378, 56.8%), and branded merchandise (n=378, 56.8%). Young people (i.e., persons in the video who appeared younger than 30) were identified in 48.3% (n=321) of posts, and 61.5% (n=409) of posts featured people who appeared to be male. Cessation (n=12, 1.8%) was an uncommon theme. Most posts came from non-commercial accounts (n=420, 63.1%), followed by commercial accounts (n=158, 23.8%), and content creators/influencers (n=87, 13.1%).

Conclusions: This study showed that ZYN-related posts on TikTok often featured pro-tobacco themes, such as humor and product use, while rarely mentioning anti-tobacco themes like cessation. Future research should examine the relationship between exposure to pro-tobacco content on TikTok and tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors.

Implications: This study highlighted the potential role of TikTok in normalizing tobacco and nicotine product use, and in particular ZYN product use, including among youth. While increased enforcement of online tobacco control policies can help reduce exposure to ZYN-related content in youth, prevention programs and interventions that incorporate tobacco-related digital media literacy are needed to inoculate adolescents and young adults from the pro-tobacco content found online.