Abstract
Presence of Sweets in Online Cannabis Marketing
Marina Jenkins, BA1, Kole Binger, BS1, Aubrey Gower, BS1, Lauren Kelly, BA2 and Megan A. Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH1
(1)University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, (2)University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, Madison, WI
APHA's 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo (Nov. 2 - Nov. 6)
Since 2012, several states have used social media to advertise cannabis products despite concerns that exposure could influence youth. The use of sweets in online cannabis marketing is absent from laws regulating youth appeal content, despite evidence that use of sweets in tobacco advertising can increase the appeal of tobacco use. Qualitative research has shown that use of sweets in cannabis marketing can increase the appeal of cannabis. This study aimed to evaluate the presence of sweets in cannabis marketing on Facebook and Instagram. We identified retail cannabis companies with both Facebook and Instagram business pages from Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska. Our evaluation included presence of age restrictions to limit underage viewers and measures of youth appeal. Coding focused on sweets, including candy and sugary food and drinks, and co-occurrence of youth appeal content. Analysis included descriptive statistics. A total of 2648 posts were analyzed from 32 cannabis business social media pages on Facebook and Instagram from 4 states. Sweets were present in 13% of all posts (345): 11% (169) on Facebook, 15.7% (177) on Instagram. Over half (52.6%) of sweets posts were on pages without age restrictions. One post included a picture of cannabis-infused gummy candy with “#candy.” 9.6% (33) of sweets posts were co-categorized with youth appeal, including a picture of cannabis-infused cookies with super-imposed stickers of a cartoon rainbow. With Washington State recently reversing policy proposed to ban candy edibles, it is important to consider implications of online marketing accessible to youth. Enforcement of site age restrictions on pages with youth-appealing content is needed to prevent youth exposure, including limiting use of hashtags that could lead youth to cannabis business pages. Regulations should take careful consideration of advertising around cannabis-infused sweets.
Communication and informatics Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines Social and behavioral sciences