TY - JOUR
T1 - A Social Media–Based Public Health Campaign to Reduce Indoor Tanning in High-Risk Populations
AU - de Vere Hunt, Isabella
AU - Cai, Zhuo Ran
AU - Nava, Vanessa
AU - Admassu, Natnaelle E.
AU - Bousheri, Stephanie
AU - Johnson, Tiffani
AU - Tomz, Anna
AU - Thompson, Jessica
AU - Zhang, Lucy
AU - Pagoto, Sherry
AU - Wehner, Mackenzie R.
AU - Mathur, Maya B.
AU - Linos, Eleni
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/9
Y1 - 2023/9
N2 - Introduction: Indoor tanning beds cause more than 450,000 new skin cancers each year, yet their use remains common, with a global indoor tanning prevalence of 10.4%. Social media provides an opportunity for cost-effective, targeted public health messaging. We sought to direct Instagram users at high risk of indoor tanning to accurate health information about the risks of indoor tanning and to reduce indoor tanning bed use. Methods: We disseminated a public health campaign on Instagram on April 6–27, 2022 with 34 video and still-image advertisements. We had 2 target audiences at high risk of indoor tanning: women aged 18–30 years in Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio, or Tennessee interested in indoor tanning and men aged 18–45 years in California interested in indoor tanning. To evaluate the impact of the campaign, we tracked online metrics, including website visits, and conducted an interrupted time-series analysis of foot traffic data in our target states for all tanning salons documented on SafeGraph from January 1, 2018 to 3 months after the campaign. Results: Our indoor tanning health information advertisements appeared on Instagram feeds 9.1 million times, reaching 1.06 million individuals. We received 7,004 views of our indoor tanning health information landing page (Average Time on Page of 56 seconds). We did not identify a significant impact on foot traffic data on tanning salons. Conclusions: We show the successful use of social media advertising to direct high-risk groups to online health information about indoor tanning. Future research quantifying tanning visits before and after indoor tanning interventions is needed to guide future public health efforts.
AB - Introduction: Indoor tanning beds cause more than 450,000 new skin cancers each year, yet their use remains common, with a global indoor tanning prevalence of 10.4%. Social media provides an opportunity for cost-effective, targeted public health messaging. We sought to direct Instagram users at high risk of indoor tanning to accurate health information about the risks of indoor tanning and to reduce indoor tanning bed use. Methods: We disseminated a public health campaign on Instagram on April 6–27, 2022 with 34 video and still-image advertisements. We had 2 target audiences at high risk of indoor tanning: women aged 18–30 years in Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio, or Tennessee interested in indoor tanning and men aged 18–45 years in California interested in indoor tanning. To evaluate the impact of the campaign, we tracked online metrics, including website visits, and conducted an interrupted time-series analysis of foot traffic data in our target states for all tanning salons documented on SafeGraph from January 1, 2018 to 3 months after the campaign. Results: Our indoor tanning health information advertisements appeared on Instagram feeds 9.1 million times, reaching 1.06 million individuals. We received 7,004 views of our indoor tanning health information landing page (Average Time on Page of 56 seconds). We did not identify a significant impact on foot traffic data on tanning salons. Conclusions: We show the successful use of social media advertising to direct high-risk groups to online health information about indoor tanning. Future research quantifying tanning visits before and after indoor tanning interventions is needed to guide future public health efforts.
KW - cancer prevention
KW - health communication
KW - Public health
KW - skin cancer
KW - social media
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U2 - 10.1016/j.focus.2023.100123
DO - 10.1016/j.focus.2023.100123
M3 - Article
C2 - 37662553
AN - SCOPUS:85175307373
SN - 2773-0654
VL - 2
JO - AJPM Focus
JF - AJPM Focus
IS - 3
M1 - 100123
ER -