‘Don’t Think of a Soda’: Contradictory Public Health Messaging from a Content Analysis of Twitter Posts About SSB Taxes in CA from 2015 to 2018

In “‘Don’t think of a soda’: Contradictory public health messaging from a content analysis of Twitter posts about sugar-sweetened beverage taxes in California from 2015 to 2018,” published in Frontiers in Public Health, PHI’s Berkeley Media Studies Group conducted a content analysis on a sample of Tweets from California users posted between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2018 about sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes in Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland and/or Albany, California to show how SSB taxes were framed in posts on Twitter (now known as X) through text and images.

Researchers found that many public health posts on social media inadvertently reinforced anti-tax perspectives, demonstrating important framing implications not only for SSB tax campaigns but for any public health issue. 

BMSG evaluated posts for information sources, arguments for or against SSB tax policies, and images used and found that posts presented a mix of messages through text and images. Findings include:

• The majority of posts (64%) included arguments supporting SSB taxes, 28% presented a neutral position (e.g., factual information) or a mix of both pro-and anti-tax arguments, and 8% opposed.
• One-third of posts included an image, almost half of which appeared to be stock photos from SSB advertisements: many of these were shared by medical and public health users.
• Some tax supporters also reposted messages and images from opposition campaigns and added their own criticisms. By reposting opponents’ anti-tax messages and images of SSBs, tax supporters may have inadvertently promoted SSBs, reinforced opposition to SSB taxes, and normalized SSBs. While advocates effectively shared pro-tax arguments, they should also ensure that accompanying images reflect the solutions they seek, not just the problem they are trying to combat.

Originally published by Berkeley Media Studies Group