Categorizing IQOS-Related Twitter Discussions.

Joshua O Barker,Jon-Patrick Allem,Julia Vassey,Jennifer B Unger,Tess Boley Cruz,Julia C Chen-Sankey

doi:10.3390/ijerph18094836

Abstract

(1) Background: The heated tobacco product IQOS, by Philip Morris International, is now available in over 55 countries, including the United States. Social media sites such as Twitter are often used to promote or discuss tobacco products, though prior research has not examined how IQOS is presented on Twitter. (2) Methods: This study collected and categorized Twitter conversations involving IQOS. A manual content analysis was performed on N = 3916 English tweets related to IQOS published internationally between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2020. (3) Results: Most tweets were either online marketing for IQOS (32.3%) or personal testimonials related to IQOS use (34.2%). Personal testimonial tweets made harm reduction claims about IQOS either as an avenue to quit smoking/tobacco use (3.4%), or in comparison to combustible cigarettes (2.0%). Tobacco policy-related tweets were detected (13.9%), split between discussions of United States (4.9%) and international (4.4%) policies. News media tweets (14.2%) were also detected. (4) Conclusions: Our study suggests IQOS may be understood as a less harmful alternative to vaping and combustible cigarettes. Discussions also suggest IQOS is likely to be used to avoid clean air policies or used in areas in which smoking is restricted.

Highlights

The IQOS heat-not-burn smoking device from Philip Morris International (PMI) has been available for purchase since 2014, but has only been permitted for sale in the UnitedStates after receiving premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2019 [1]
Following approval for IQOS to be sold in the United States, the FDA granted PMI’s IQOS tobacco heating system a modified risk tobacco product authorization (MRTP) in July 2020
HeetSticks, or long strips of processed and reformed tobacco which are inserted into the IQOS holder for use, were promoted as offering “Tropical menthol”, or color-based flavored tobacco packs such as “Purple label Heets” which, as one Marketing tweet claimed, “may be a tobacco mix with blueberry style, wild herb, and a bit of lotion”

Summary

Introduction

States after receiving premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2019 [1]. Following approval for IQOS to be sold in the United States, the FDA granted PMI’s IQOS tobacco heating system a modified risk tobacco product authorization (MRTP) in July 2020. IQOS became the second tobacco product to receive MRTP authorization and the first to receive an “exposure modification” order, permitting marketers to describe the product as presenting a reduced risk of exposure to harmful substances compared to combustible cigarettes [2]. Before receiving MRTP authorization, IQOS had been marketed internationally as a cleaner, “cool” tobacco product alternative in Japan [3]. A review of 15 studies found increased awareness and interest in trying heat-not-burn products among young adult smokers and non-smokers [4].

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