Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Aug 10, 2020
Date Accepted: Jan 4, 2021
“Roll with us”: A content analysis of Backwoods cigarillo blunts on Instagram
ABSTRACT
Background:
Instagram, one of the most popular social media platforms among youth, offers a unique opportunity to examine blunts—partially or fully hollowed out large cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos that are filled with marijuana. Cigarillo brands like Backwoods (Imperial Tobacco Group Brands LLC) have product features that facilitate blunt-making, including a variety of brand-specific flavors that enhance the smoking experience (e.g., honey, dark stout). Backwoods has a growing online presence with a user-friendly website and an active Instagram account with over 30,000 followers.
Objective:
The present study examined the extent to which Backwoods cigarillo-related posts to Instagram showed blunt-making. Instagram offers a unique opportunity to examine blunt-making as Instagram accounts will contain images reflective of organic behavior occurring without the prime of a researcher.
Methods:
Inclusion criteria for this study included an Instagram post with the hashtag “#backwoods”. Rules were established to content analyze posts. Categories included Type of post (i.e., photo or video or both); Blunt-related hashtags (i.e., the corresponding caption to the post contained hashtag(s) like #blunts, #cannabis, #weed that were identified in previous social media research); Rolling blunts (i.e., the post contained an image of an individual(s) rolling a Backwoods cigarillo visibly containing marijuana); Smoking blunts (i.e., the post contained an image of an individual(s) blowing smoke or holding a lit blunt. We coded images for Flavor reference, where a code of 1 showed a Backwoods cigarillo pack with a brand-specific flavor (e.g., honey, dark stout, Russian crème) visible in the blunt-related image and a code of 0 indicated that it was not visible anywhere in the image.
Results:
Among all posts (n = 1,206), 871 (72.2%) were Blunt-related hashtags. A total of 125 (10.4%) images were coded Smoking blunts and 25 (2.1%) were coded Rolling blunts (i.e., Backwoods cigarillo explicitly used to roll blunts. Among blunt images, 434/843 (51.5%) were coded Flavor (i.e., a Backwoods pack with a brand-specific flavor was visible).
Conclusions:
Most Backwoods cigarillo-related Instagram images were blunt-related and these blunt-related images showed Backwoods packages indicating flavor preference. Continued monitoring and surveillance of blunt-related posts on Instagram is needed to inform policies and interventions that reduce the risk that youth may experiment with blunts. Specific policies could include restrictions on product features (e.g., flavors, perforated lines, attractive resealable foil pouches, sold as singles) that facilitate blunt-making. Clinical Trial: N/A
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