Marketing of electronic cigarettes

The adverse effects of vaping and the addictiveness of nicotine are usually not described in vaping ads.

File:No-one likes a quitter, e-cigarette ad.jpg

This 2011 e-cigarette ad emphasizes choice and freedom, not the less attractive entrapment and lack of freedom inherent in addiction. It plays on social anxieties with the phrase "Nobody likes a quitter". The topmost line, "WHY QUIT?", also contradicts the narrative that e-cigarettes help smokers quit. It does not mention addiction or other health concerns. The ad is explicitly addressed at the "concerned smoker", someone considering quitting, and it suggests a more harmful alternative to quitting.

E-cigarette advertising is legal in some jurisdictions. 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." In the US, six large e-cigarette businesses spent $59.3 million on promoting e-cigarettes in 2013. The use of e-cigarettes has been increasing exponentially since 2004.

E-cigarettes are marketed as a cheaper, more pleasant, and more convenient complement or alternative to smoking. E-cigarettes are also marketed to unwilling smokers as an alternative to quitting (see image).

Common, but problematic marketing claims are that

1. e-cigarettes are harmless, or even beneficial, to the user
2. e-cigarettes are harmless to others breathing the same air
3. e-cigarettes help smokers quit (weak evidence)
4. e-cigarettes are only used by smokers

The evidence for these claims is weak to negative. Nonsmokers are more likely to start vaping if they think e-cigarettes are not very harmful or addictive; beliefs about harmfullness and addiction don't affect the probability that smokers will start vaping.

As nicotine-containing products, e-cigarettes are highly addictive. Nicotine is addictive on a level comparable to heroin and cocaine.

E-cigarettes and nicotine are regularly promoted as safe and beneficial in the media and on brand websites. It is claimed, for instance, that e-cigarettes emit "only water vapor". E-cigarette vapor contains possibly harmful chemicals such as nicotine, carbonyls, heavy metals, and organic volatile compounds, in addition to particulates. It is plausible that vapourizing cigarettes may be less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, but there is evidence of short-term harm (see image) and no evidence on the long-term health effects, as e-cigarettes were introduced in 2004.

Branding is used to imply healthiness, with brands named "Safe-cigs", "Lung Buddy", "iBreathe", and "E-HealthCigs".

E-cigarettes are falsely marketed as harmless to bystanders. Messages imply that users need no longer go outside to satisfy nicotine cravings. Phrases such as "No second-hand smoke" and "No passive smoking" are also common. Since the emissions of an e-cigarette are not classified by the marketer as smoke, but as vapour, this is technically true. However, the emissions are harmful to the health of people who are using or will use the same air. The World Health Organization's view regarding second hand aerosol (SHA) is "that while there are a limited number of studies in this area, it can be concluded that SHA is a new air contamination source for particulate matter, which includes fine and ultrafine particles, as well as 1,2-propanediol, some VOCs [volatile organic compounds], some heavy metals, and nicotine" and "[i]t is nevertheless reasonable to assume that the increased concentration of toxicants from SHA over background levels poses an increased risk for the health of all bystanders". Public Health England has concluded that "international peer-reviewed evidence indicates that the risk to the health of bystanders from secondhand e-cigarette vapor is extremely low and insufficient to justify prohibiting e-cigarettes". A systematic review concluded, "the absolute impact from passive exposure to EC [electronic cigarette] vapor has the potential to lead to adverse health effects. The risk from being passively exposed to EC vapor is likely to be less than the risk from passive exposure to conventional cigarette smoke."

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". There are concerns that e-cigarette use may delay and deter quitting, by giving users an excuse to keep using nicotine. E-cigarettes have been marketed at a reason not to quit. Only one study comparing e-cigarettes to standard quitting methods has been published. Many jurisdictions have regulated e-cigarettes, but they have not won widespread medical approval as a smoking cessation aid, due to the lack of clinical evidence that they are effective.

There is evidence that people who have never smoked take up vaping. Nonsmokers are more likely to start vaping if they think e-cigarettes are not very harmful or addictive; beliefs about harmfullness and addiction don't affect the probability that smokers will start vaping. The World Health Organization is concerned about addiction of non-smokers. Flavours, especially candy flavours, are thought to be used to appeal to minors, like earlier flavoured tobacco products (now commonly banned).

E-cigarettes are aggressively promoted, mostly via the internet, as a healthy alternative to smoking in the US. Easily circumvented age verification at company websites enables young people to access and be exposed to marketing for e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are marketed to young people using cartoon characters and candy flavors, in a re-use of older (now widely illegal) strategies used to promote chewing tobacco and cigarettes.(see History) E-cigarettes are also widely marketed on social media, where age restrictions are often not implemented.

Many other aspect of e-cigarette ads are familiar; like ads from the 1800 and 1900s, they show unrepresentatively healthy, well-dressed, high-status people. They may portray users as more sociable (the ad illustrated here actually asserts that breaking a nicotine addiction will cause you to be disliked). They are likely to imply that users of their product are behaving in an adult manner, making free choices, rebelling against coercive authority, and expressing their individuality; they are unlikely to mention nicotine addiction or other negative health effects. They offer alternatives to quitting for "concerned smokers", and claim that these alternatives are intelligent.

Claims of healthiness are also made indirectly; for instance, a woman exhales into a baby carriage in a 2013 e-cigarette ad (for Flavor Vapes, UTVG, Inc.) reminiscent of early-twentieth-century cigarette ads.

E-cigarettes are advertised as good for stress reduction, mood, and insomnia. It is certainly true that nicotine products temporarily relieve nicotine withdrawal symptoms. The American Psychologist stated "Smokers often report that cigarettes help relieve feelings of stress. However, the stress levels of adult smokers are slightly higher than those of nonsmokers, adolescent smokers report increasing levels of stress as they develop regular patterns of smoking, and smoking cessation leads to reduced stress. Far from acting as an aid for mood control, nicotine dependency seems to exacerbate stress. This is confirmed in the daily mood patterns described by smokers, with normal moods during smoking and worsening moods between cigarettes. Thus, the apparent relaxant effect of smoking only reflects the reversal of the tension and irritability that develop during nicotine depletion. Dependent smokers need nicotine to remain feeling normal."

E-cigarettes are also advertised as dieting aids. Nicotine may in fact be an appetite suppressant; however, getting addicted to nicotine in order to lose weight is widely discouraged by public health professionals. There is much controversy concerning whether smokers are actually thinner than nonsmokers. Some studies have shown that smokers—including long term and current smokers—weigh less than nonsmokers, and gain less weight over time. Conversely, certain longitudinal studies have not shown correlation between weight loss and smoking.

Celebrity endorsements are also used to encourage e-cigarette use. 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." 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. 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". 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.

In 2016, e-cigarette companies fought not to have the health and safety of their products evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, arguing that all existing products should be grandfathered in.

Bans

While advertising of tobacco products is banned in most countries, fewer ban nicotine marketing.

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. Since they do not contain tobacco, television advertising in the US is not restricted. Some countries have regulated e-cigarettes as a medical product even though they have not approved them as a smoking cessation aid.

Television and radio e-cigarette advertising in some countries may be indirectly encouraging traditional cigarette smoking.

In some jurisdictions, it is legal to market (and sell) e-cigarettes to minors.

See also

• Nicotine marketing
• Nicotine withdrawal
• Nicotine cessation
• Nicotine replacement therapy