Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Feb 23, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 24, 2025 - Apr 21, 2025
Date Accepted: Sep 17, 2025
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Youth and Nicotine Pouches: The concerning new trend examined through TikTok
ABSTRACT
Background:
This study highlights TikTok’s influence in shaping youth perceptions of nicotine pouches as trendy and relatively harmless. This underlines the need for more restrictions to be applied on the content that is so readily available for youth.
Objective:
This study employs a qualitative descriptive design to explore how nicotine pouches (specifically Zyns) are represented on TikTok.
Methods:
A total of 200 TikTok posts were screened under the #zyn, #zyns, and #nicotinepouch hashtags, with 132 being analyzed. Posts were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis approach. Collaborative coding ensured reliability and identified key themes in the content.
Results:
: Five themes emerged: (1) The Zyn Movement; (2) “Boy Heaven”; (3) “Unintended Negative Consequences”; (4) Product Design: “Life doesn’t need to stop”; (5) Physical Benefits: “It’s like IcyHot for your mouth.” Overall, the content heavily condoned nicotine pouch use and normalized it, with males disproportionately represented as the primary users of nicotine pouches.
Conclusions:
This study highlights TikTok’s influence in shaping youth perceptions of nicotine pouches as trendy and relatively harmless. This underlines the need for more restrictions on the content that is so readily available to youth.
Citation
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Copyright
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