Peer-reviewedCC BYJMIR dermatology1 Oct 2026

Promotion of Tanning Behaviors on Instagram: Content Analysis.

Tailisha Gonzalez¹
Grace C Hillyer²
Bailey Gold³
Corey H Basch³

¹Department of Health, Administration, Research, and Technology, Lehman College, 250 Bedford Park Blvd W, Bronx, NY, 10468-1588, United States, 1 347-699-6505.
²Department of Health Studies and Applied Educational Psychology, Teachers College of Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.
³Department of Public Health, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ, United States.

Abstract

Background

Adolescents and young adults may be particularly susceptible to social media content that promotes tanning and appearance-based beauty standards.Objective

This study examined the characteristics and messaging of pro- and antitanning Instagram posts and the extent to which they promoted health damaging- or health enhancing-behaviors.Methods

A cross-sectional content analysis of 100 Instagram posts using the hashtag #tanning assessed creator characteristics, tanning practices, commercial promotion, tanning-related messaging, beauty standards, and health risks and benefits. χ² and Fisher exact tests were used to determine differences between pro vs anti stances for categorical and dichotomous variables, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for continuous variables.Results

Most videos were protanning (79/100). Protanning videos were significantly greater than antitanning videos to have been posted in 2026 (77.2% vs 47.6%; P=.02), feature teen and young adult creators (87.3% vs 52.4%; P<.001), and include shopping tags promoting tanning products (30.4% vs 0%; P<.001). Overall, messaging focused on promoting tanning (76%) and advocating for tanned skin as a standard of beauty (63%) and downplayed the use of sun protection (11%) and the risks associated with tanning (20%). Messaging varied significantly by tanning stance, with antitanning videos focused on sun protection and health risk.Conclusions

Findings indicate an urgent need for clinicians to lead content creation on popular social media platforms to counter the health-damaging effects of unreliable, incomplete, and potentially misdirected information that is posted under popularized hashtags.

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Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@article{gonzalez2026promotion,
  title = {{Promotion of Tanning Behaviors on Instagram: Content Analysis.}},
  author = {Tailisha Gonzalez and Grace C Hillyer and Bailey Gold and Corey H Basch},
  journal = {JMIR dermatology},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.2196/110157},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42962080},
  note = {CC BY},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Promotion of Tanning Behaviors on Instagram: Content Analysis.
AU  - Tailisha Gonzalez
AU  - Grace C Hillyer
AU  - Bailey Gold
AU  - Corey H Basch
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
JO  - JMIR dermatology
DO  - 10.2196/110157
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42962080
AB  - Background  Adolescents and young adults may be particularly susceptible to social media content that promotes tanning and appearance-based beauty standards.Objective  This study examined the characteristics and messaging of pro- and antitanning Instagram posts and the extent to which they promoted health damaging- or health enhancing-behaviors.Methods  A cross-sectional content analysis of 100 Instagram posts using the hashtag #tanning assessed creator characteristics, tanning practices, commercial promotion, tanning-related messaging, beauty standards, and health risks and benefits. χ² and Fisher exact tests were used to determine differences between pro vs anti stances for categorical and dichotomous variables, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for continuous variables.Results  Most videos were protanning (79/100). Protanning videos were significantly greater than antitanning videos to have been posted in 2026 (77.2% vs 47.6%; P=.02), feature teen and young adult creators (87.3% vs 52.4%; P<.001), and include shopping tags promoting tanning products (30.4% vs 0%; P<.001). Overall, messaging focused on promoting tanning (76%) and advocating for tanned skin as a standard of beauty (63%) and downplayed the use of sun protection (11%) and the risks associated with tanning (20%). Messaging varied significantly by tanning stance, with antitanning videos focused on sun protection and health risk.Conclusions  Findings indicate an urgent need for clinicians to lead content creation on popular social media platforms to counter the health-damaging effects of unreliable, incomplete, and potentially misdirected information that is posted under popularized hashtags.
SN  - 2562-0959
ER  -

Abstract

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