JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

On December 20, 2019, the US “Tobacco 21” law raised the minimum legal sales age of tobacco products to 21 years.

Objective:

This study sought to examine sentiment about Tobacco 21 on Twitter leading up to the enactment of the federal law.

Methods:

We collected tweets related to Tobacco 21 posted between September and December 2019. A 2% subsample (n = 4,628 tweets) was annotated by two experienced, trained coders for policy-related information and sentiment. We also examined quantitative patterns related to the volume of Tobacco 21-related tweets.

Results:

Most tweets (46.2%) about Tobacco 21 were neutral, over one-third (38.8%) were anti-policy, and 15.0% were supportive of the law. Key themes identified among neutral tweets redirected the conversation to other age-related behaviors, discussed methods of evading the law, or were news reports. Tweets opposing Tobacco 21 mentioned that the law was unfair to 18-20-year-olds who were addicted to nicotine and cast doubt that the law would effectively reduce smoking. Pro-Tobacco 21 tweets focused on the protection of youth. Four spikes in daily volume were noted, two of which corresponded with political speeches and two that were associated with the preparation and passage of the legislation. Most discussions generated from news sources and the general public surfaced in the final days before enactment. The majority of tweets related to Tobacco 21 were neutral or negative.

Conclusions:

Understanding themes of public sentiment—as well as when Twitter activity is most active—will help public health professionals to optimize health promotion activities, including the countering of misinformation.