Page 123 - TAIWAN TOBACCO CONTROL ANNUAL REPORT 2019

In this year's research, relative images (Table 3-5) were not shown for the five keywords "E-Cigarette Association", "fruit smoking", "E-juice", "electronic juice", and "vitabon", indicating that there weren't many discussions about the keywords in news media and the social media platform PTT, or it can be suspected that information was not spread through the news media and PTT. Table 3-5 Overview of tobacco product terms in the first/second half of 2017 2. Tobacco product-related text and images on Instagram and YouTube have increased considerably and mainly focus on the introduction or sharing of e-cigarette products recommended by manufacturers. For instance, the number of e-cigarette related posts on Instagram has increased by 8,938 from the first to the second half of the year (close to 1,500 posts per month on average). In addition, e-cigarette related keyword searches generate a high number of results (e.g., 4.33 million posts are related to E-juice, accounting for 98% of e-cigarette related keyword search results). This clearly indicates the popularity of e-cigarettes on social media. With YouTube as an example, the total number of searches has increased by 6,310 videos, of which "fruit smoking" increased from 4,530 videos in 2018 to 5,490 videos in 2019, "electronic juice" increased from 2,330 in 2018 to 3,270 videos in 2019, and "vitabon" increased from 2,100 videos in 2018 to 2,430 videos in 2019. On the contrary, "E-juice" has reduced from 2,300,000 videos in the second half of 2018 to 2,050,000 videos in 2019, indicating that YouTube videos may increase year by year but may also be removed. 3. Hidden intention in E-cig Facebook pages The number of closed groups on Facebook have significantly increased, while online displays are closely related to sales and marketing. For example, an online shopping site Ruten, where sellers build up their own online stores to sell products, showed that buyers and sellers use alternative words related to e-cigarettes, such as "atomizer", "juice", "fruit smoking", "electronic juice", "E-juice", and "vitabon", indicating a significant increase in the number of emerging products related to e-cigarettes. It is difficult to control the tobacco products on the website since the products are managed and sold by the sellers themselves, which may increase the number of channels for youths to obtain related tobacco products. 4. Tobacco control content on the Internet: As for restrictions on communication of tobacco product and e-cigarette related information in audiovisual content or on the Internet, the following four different directions of legal amendments are recommended: e-cigarette policy attitudes, promotion of self-discipline/protection mechanism provisions, addition of self-discipline/protection mechanism provisions in the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, and revisions (principles governing production and handling of smoking related images or story lines in broadcast contents). Item Cigarettes E-cigarettes Fruit smoking E-juice Electronic juice Vitabon Light cigarettes First half 87 344 8 956 146 4 1 Second half 96 361 80 863 211 61 2 121 Research, Monitoring, and International Exchange