Marketing of electronic cigarettes

Various types of electronic cigarettes

The marketing of electronic cigarettes is legal in some jurisdictions,[1] and spending is increasing rapidly.[2][3]

Methods

E-cigarette companies have been accused of using similar to pre-regulation tobacco advertising. A 2014 review said, "the e-cigarette companies have been rapidly expanding using aggressive marketing messages similar to those used to promote cigarettes in the 1950s and 1960s."[2] E-cigarettes and nicotine are regularly promoted as safe and beneficial in the media and on brand websites.[4] While advertising of tobacco products is banned in most countries, television and radio e-cigarette advertising in some countries may be indirectly encouraging traditional cigarette smoking.[2] There is no evidence that the cigarette brands are selling e-cigarettes as part of a plan to phase out traditional cigarettes, despite some claiming to want to cooperate in "harm reduction".[2]

According to a 2014 review, e-cigarettes are aggressively promoted in the US, mostly via the internet, as a healthy alternative to smoking.[5] "Big tobacco" markets e-cigarettes to young people,[6] with industry strategies including cartoon characters and candy flavors to sell e-cigarettes.[7]

There are concerns of claims that e-cigarettes are harmless, or even beneficial, to the user.[4] E-cigarette companies commonly promote that their products contain only water, nicotine, glycerin, propylene glycol, and flavoring but this assertion is misleading as scientists have found differing amounts of heavy metals in the vapor, including chromium, nickel, tin, silver, cadmium, mercury, and aluminum.[8] The assertion that e-cigarette emit "only water vapor" is false because the evidence indicates e-cigarette vapor contains possibly harmful chemicals such as nicotine, carbonyls, metals, and organic volatile compounds, in addition to particulates.[9]

Medical claims are also made, including "pharmaceuticalization", comparing e-cigarettes to nicotine inhalers.[10]

Celebrity product endorsements

Celebrity endorsements are also used to encourage e-cigarette use.[11][2] A national US television advertising campaign starred Steven Dorff exhaling a "thick flume" of what the ad describes as "vapor, not tobacco smoke", exhorting smokers with the message "We are all adults here, it's time to take our freedom back."[12] The ads, in a context of longstanding prohibition of tobacco advertising on TV, were criticized by organizations such as Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids as undermining anti-tobacco efforts.[12] Cynthia Hallett of Americans for Non-Smokers' Rights described the US advertising campaign as attempting to "re-establish a norm that smoking is okay, that smoking is glamorous and acceptable".[12] University of Pennsylvania communications professor Joseph Cappella stated that the setting of the ad near an ocean was meant to suggest an association of clean air with the nicotine product.[12]

Scale

In the United States, six large e-cigarette businesses spent $59.3 million on promoting e-cigarettes in 2013.[3]

Marketing regulation

As of 2014, 39 countries containing 31% of the world's population have comprehensive e-cigarette advertising, promotion and sponsorship bans, and 19 countries containing 5% of the world's populations in theory require products like e-cigarettes to be reviewed before being placed on the market.[1] Easily circumvented age verification at company websites enables young people to access and be exposed to marketing for e-cigarettes.[13]

E-cigarettes have been listed as drug delivery devices in several countries because they contain nicotine, and their advertising has been restricted until safety and efficacy clinical trials are conclusive.[14] Since they do not contain tobacco, television advertising in the United States is not restricted.[15] However, advertising and promotion of e-cigarettes and refill containers in print (newspaper, magazine, periodical), television, or radio media is prohibited in the European Union by the European Commission's 2014 Tobacco Products Directive (incorporated in British law by the 2016 Tobacco and Related Products Regulations[16]). Promotional elements on the packaging is prohibited, as is cross-border advertising and promotion of e-cigarette products. Additionally, warning labels stating that the products contain nicotine and should not be used by non-smokers are mandatory, and a leaflet must be provided "with instructions for use and information on adverse effects, risk groups, addictiveness and toxicity".[17] However, billboard advertising, posters on domestic public transport, in the cinema, by leaflets or mail and in trade media is still permitted.[16]

In some jurisdictions, it is legal to market and sell e-cigarettes to minors.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 WHO. "Electronic nicotine delivery systems" (PDF). pp. 1–13. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Grana, R; Benowitz, N; Glantz, SA (13 May 2014). "E-cigarettes: a scientific review". Circulation. 129 (19): 1972–86. doi:10.1161/circulationaha.114.007667. PMC 4018182. PMID 24821826.
  3. 1 2 3 Wasowicz A., Feleszko W., Goniewicz M.L. (2015). "E-Cigarette use among children and young people: the need for regulation". Expert Rev Respir Med. 9: 1–3. doi:10.1586/17476348.2015.1077120. PMID 26290119.
  4. 1 2 England, Lucinda J.; Bunnell, Rebecca E.; Pechacek, Terry F.; Tong, Van T.; McAfee, Tim A. (2015). "Nicotine and the Developing Human". American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 49 (2): 286–93. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2015.01.015. ISSN 0749-3797. PMC 4594223. PMID 25794473.
  5. ↑ Rom, Oren; Pecorelli, Alessandra; Valacchi, Giuseppe; Reznick, Abraham Z. (2014). "Are E-cigarettes a safe and good alternative to cigarette smoking?". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1340 (1): 65–74. Bibcode:2015NYASA1340...65R. doi:10.1111/nyas.12609. ISSN 0077-8923. PMID 25557889.
  6. ↑ "E-cigarettes and Lung Health". American Lung Association. 2015.
  7. ↑ "Myths and Facts About E-cigarettes". American Lung Association. 2015.
  8. ↑ Hildick-Smith, Gordon J.; Pesko, Michael F.; Shearer, Lee; Hughes, Jenna M.; Chang, Jane; Loughlin, Gerald M.; Ipp, Lisa S. (2015). "A Practitioner's Guide to Electronic Cigarettes in the Adolescent Population". Journal of Adolescent Health. 57 (6): 574–9. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.07.020. ISSN 1054-139X. PMID 26422289.
  9. ↑ Fernández, Esteve; Ballbè, Montse; Sureda, Xisca; Fu, Marcela; Saltó, Esteve; Martínez-Sánchez, Jose M. (2015). "Particulate Matter from Electronic Cigarettes and Conventional Cigarettes: a Systematic Review and Observational Study". Current Environmental Health Reports. 2 (4): 423–9. doi:10.1007/s40572-015-0072-x. ISSN 2196-5412. PMID 26452675.
  10. ↑ Hendlin, Yogi Hale; Elias, Jesse; Ling, Pamela M. (2017-08-15). "The Pharmaceuticalization of the Tobacco Industry". Annals of Internal Medicine. 167 (4): 278–280. doi:10.7326/M17-0759. ISSN 0003-4819. PMC 5568794. PMID 28715843.
  11. ↑ Linda Bauld; Kathryn Angus; Marisa de Andrade (May 2014). "E-cigarette uptake and marketing" (PDF). Public Health England. pp. 1–19.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Daniel Nasaw (5 December 2012). "Electronic cigarettes challenge anti-smoking efforts". BBC News.
  13. ↑ Grana R.A., Ling P.M. (2014). ""Smoking revolution": a content analysis of electronic cigarette retail websites". Am J Prev Med. 46 (4): 395–403. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2013.12.010. PMC 3989286. PMID 24650842.
  14. ↑ Cervellin, Gianfranco; Borghi, Loris; Mattiuzzi, Camilla; Meschi, Tiziana; Favaloro, Emmanuel; Lippi, Giuseppe (2013). "E-Cigarettes and Cardiovascular Risk: Beyond Science and Mysticism". Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis. 40 (01): 060–065. doi:10.1055/s-0033-1363468. ISSN 0094-6176. PMID 24343348.
  15. ↑ Maloney, Erin K.; Cappella, Joseph N. (2015). "Does Vaping in E-Cigarette Advertisements Affect Tobacco Smoking Urge, Intentions, and Perceptions in Daily, Intermittent, and Former Smokers?". Health Communication. 31: 1–10. doi:10.1080/10410236.2014.993496. ISSN 1041-0236. PMID 25758192.
  16. 1 2 Rough, Elizabeth; Barber, Sarah (31 October 2017). "Briefing Paper No. 8114" (PDF). researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk. House of Commons Library. pp. 3, 10–12. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  17. ↑ "Electronic cigarettes". Public Health. European Commission. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
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