There is a lot of debate around electronic cigarettes and the way they are presumably marketed towards minors – but are they?
Today, I analyze this…
Ecigs are similar to regular cigarettes in a number of ways mainly because they were created to replace them and also to imitate the effect they had on a person. Even if the advertising of ecigs is considered, it is terribly similar to how normal cigarettes were marketed many decades ago when they were just beginning to become popular. There are quite a few ways that adolescents can be easily targeted by ecig brands and they are discussed in more detail below. There are many e cigarette brands out there, but only the top e cigarette brands are the ones picked up by NASDAQ companies – and such – the ones people gravitate towards because of the amount of marketing put into them.
Firstly, flavors are a key component in attracting children or young adults towards vaping. Depending on whether they were previously used to smoking or not, this is not a healthy habit for them to have. The flavors that most brands offer are too many to count and they can further be mixed to create even more flavor combinations. The possibilities attract teenagers and it awakens their creative spark, inducing them to buy and experiment with the product. Flavors such as chocolate or vanilla or blueberry can be very tempting and almost irresistible to those with a sweet tooth. Furthermore, flavors lessen the seriousness of vaping and make it look harmless and fun which again contributes to the product having a bad influence on impressionable children.
Secondly, the advertising strategy that ecig brands opt for is very stimulating. It makes teenagers feel more alive and it creates a desire to try the product. Once they do try the product however, they become victims of nicotine addiction. Outrageous claims such as the product being healthy and tasty are also to blame for teenagers being inspired to start vaping. Also, since the brain of an adolescent is still in the development stage, nicotine can be especially harmful and can compromise brain functioning along with having other undesirable long term effects.
Some studies have concluded that teenagers who get into electronic cigarettes largely because of the marketing hype are also not averse to smoking regular tobacco cigarettes every now and then. Vaping opens new doors for them as they begin to define what is now acceptable and that is how they get addicted to tobacco cigarettes which far outrun ecigs as far as bad choices go.