Presentation Key Takeaways

Instagram as a Tool for Treatment: Equitable Teen and Young Adult Vape Cessation

1. Meet teens where they're already at on social platforms like Instagram. Interventions are more effective when they are delivered on platforms that teens already use and trust.
2. Leverage peer support to counteract the isolation and loneliness of quitting vaping. Peer-to-peer connection is a critical component for success, providing encouragement and accountability that helps teens build lifelong quitting skills.
3. Focus on a guided, social-support model that provides practical solutions teens are likely to do. The structured, supportive journey provided by Quit the Hit significantly reduced vape use—from 100% at baseline to 54% at the final follow-up—and more than doubled their confidence in their ability to quit.

The Key to Quit: How Oklahoma Is Sparking a New Era in Vaping Cessation and Capturing National Attention

1. Tailor social media ads by age for maximum recruitment. The media plan for Oklahoma's Quit the Hit (QTH) program revealed distinct platform preferences between teens and young adults.
2. Combine authentic testimonials with clear incentives to drive action. In Oklahoma, recruitment efforts saw a "surge in enrollments" when they combined authentic testimonials from local program alumni with ads promoting monetary incentives.
3. Highlight the power of community to resonate with young people. The program's success, including a significant drop in past-30-day vape use to 45% for teens and 43% for young adults, underscores that fostering peer support is a powerful and effective strategy for youth cessation.

Beyond the Menthol Ban: Creating Equitable Cessation Campaigns for Chronically Underserved Populations

1. Intentional equity is critical. We need to understand the unique obstacles and needs of our underserved populations.
2. Educating on health harms is not enough. By looking beyond demographics into our audiences' psychographics, we can find new reasons for them to care about quitting.
3. Engaging, compelling messaging that speaks to the audience's direct motivations will build trust and drive action.

Leveraging Social Media for Youth Tobacco Control: Evaluating Innovative Tobacco Education and Cessation Programs in South Carolina

1. For maximum impact, implement a comprehensive approach that addresses different stages of tobacco use simultaneously. Use prevention campaigns like "Down and Dirty" and "Behind the Haze" to educate non-users and experimenters on the reasons not to use tobacco, along with a cessation program like "Quit the Hit" to provide users with a clear pathway and support system for quitting.
2. Tailor prevention messaging to specific youth Peer Crowds. For example, the "Down and Dirty" campaign, designed for Country-identifying teens, achieved significantly higher awareness (51.8%) and appeal among that group than among non-target youth.
3. Directly address the key motivators for youth who want to quit: gaining expert support (67.3%) and talking with peers on the same journey (63.3%).

Reaching Teens in the Evolving Social Media Landscape: Influencer Strategies for Tobacco Prevention

1. Shift from hyper-targeted ads to influencer partnerships
   to overcome recent policy changes on platforms like Meta and TikTok that have limited the ability to target teens based on their online behaviors and interests.
2. Prioritize relatability with micro-influencers over expensive celebrity endorsements. Teens find smaller-scale "micro-influencers" more trustworthy and relatable than traditional celebrities.
3. Implement a rigorous vetting and management process for influencers. Establish clear expectations through a formal agreement or contract.

Zynfluencers and the Fight Against the Rise of Nicotine Pouches

1. Segment audiences by Peer Crowd to create culturally relevant messaging. A one-size-fits-all message is ineffective. This presentation breaks down youth audiences into distinct peer crowds, such as Country, Hip Hop, and Alternative, each with unique values, styles, and interests.
2. Public health campaigns must reach rural teens on their preferred platforms to effectively counter the rise of nicotine pouches. Data from 2024 and 2025 shows that most rural teens use TikTok (65.8%) and Instagram (63.4%) daily.
3. Build trust by respecting teens' intelligence and lived experiences. Avoid generic or commonly known information, which they may perceive as patronizing.

Rescue has worked in four states to develop new adult cessation strategies and messages that increase quitline enrollment among priority populations who need the most support. Read more about applying behavior change to tobacco control and discover new strategies you can use in your campaigns.

The Food and Drug Administration worked with Rescue to develop its first-ever campaign, Fresh Empire, to reduce tobacco use among multi-cultural. Read more to learn how Fresh Empire generated 92% campaign awareness, with 67% of Hip Hop youth finding the ads motivational and trustworthy.