Evading regulation: young people’s exposure to harmful commodity marketing in the social media feeds of their favourite influencers

Increasingly companies use social media influencers to market unhealthy products to young people, although we know little about the influencers young people follow and the content influencers post. This study aimed to identify influencers young people follow, examine their exposure to harmful commodity content in influencer accounts, and examine the Instagram accounts of the most popular influencers for harmful commodity content and marketing. In Stage 1, 807 young people (aged 16-20 years, M = 17.1; 58% female, 33% male, 6% gender diverse, 3% did not say) completed a survey on social media use; recalled their exposure to alcohol, tobacco, and vape content and marketing within posts of influencers they follow; and named three favourite influencers. Among respondents who followed influencers (n = 665; 82.4%), 56% reported seeing influencer posts containing vapes (n = 347/620) and 23% vape marketing (n = 137/604); 47% reported seeing posts containing tobacco (n = 291/616) and 13% tobacco marketing (n = 78/604); and 76% reported seeing posts containing alcohol (n = 472/622) and 43% alcohol marketing (n = 260/602). Under-age respondents (16-17 years) reported seeing more tobacco marketing than older respondents (18-20 years). In Stage 2, researchers collected all Instagram posts of the 18 most frequently named influencers for 2 months and ephemeral 'stories' for 2 weeks. These posts/stories were analysed for harmful commodity content and marketing. Twelve influencers posted content with harmful commodities, primarily alcohol (117 posts, 6% of posts) but also vape and tobacco products (14 posts, 1% of posts). We need platform transparency and stronger policy to protect young people from harmful commodity marketing within influencers' accounts.