The introduction of e-cigarettes has allowed companies to advertise through traditional outlets that have been heavily regulated to reduce combustible cigarette marketing to children. For example, e-cigarette advertising has appeared on TV and the radio, despite the ban on cigarette advertising.
E-cigarettes capitalize on offering many kid-friendly flavours, such as cotton candy and gummi bear.
MARKETING TACTICS
E-cigarette companies are using scholarship offers as a way to recruit youth users. [1]
Individuals aware of e-cigarettes report that the most common ways to hear about e-cigarettes are through in-person communications (many show rooms has been established in malls and grocery stores ), by seeing them for sale and by seeing them in online and TV ads, in which some celebrities have endorsed the products. [2]
E-cigarettes are promoted heavily online through e-cigarette company-sponsored advertisements, and on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter[3]
Online sale, E-bey, Amazon, Alibaba, Wish, and many other online stores, without age restrictions and regulations.
More recently, mobile ads have become a popular place to advertise e-cigarettes. Mobile ads, or paid advertisements on smartphone applications and websites optimized for mobile, have the potential to reach millions of young people. [4]
E-liquids have been marketed to look like common food items, many of which appeal to kids. Examples include marketing e-liquids as “Thin Mints,” like the Girl Scout’s cookie, and “Tootsie Roll.” Those e-liquids were removed, or at least renamed, after the companies owning those copyrights took action to protect their intellectual property.
Other food and candy flavours remain on the market. And existence of several e-liquid companies apart from big producers, that marketed their products to look like candy or other kid-friendly food items, such as Reddi-wip, Nilla Wafers and Warheads candy.
[1] Vaping essays: E-cigarette sellers offering scholarships. 2018; https://apnews.com/a35ba8a0200c4a27943da3b9254b9fe5. Accessed June 14, 2018.
[2] Pepper JK, Emery SL, Ribisl KM, Brewer NT. How U.S. Adults Find Out About Electronic Cigarettes: Implications for Public Health Messages. Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. 2014. Zhu SH, Gamst A, Lee M, Cummins S, Yin L, Zoref L. The Use and Perception of Electronic Cigarettes and Snus among the U.S. Population. PloS one. 2013;8(10):e79332. Morris DS, Fiala SC. Online electronic cigarette retailers can do more to prevent accidental poisonings. Tobacco control. 2015;24(4):415-416.
[3] Ayers JW, Ribisl KM, Brownstein JS. Tracking the rise in popularity of electronic nicotine delivery systems (electronic cigarettes) using search query surveillance. American journal of preventive medicine. 2011;40(4):448-453. Paek HJ, Kim S, Hove T, Huh JY. Reduced harm or another gateway to smoking? source, message, and information characteristics of E-cigarette videos on YouTube. Journal of health communication. 2014;19(5):545-560. Hua M, Yip H, Talbot P. Mining data on usage of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) from YouTube videos. Tobacco control. 2013;22(2):103-106. Cranwell J, Murray R, Lewis S, Leonardi-Bee J, Dockrell M, Britton J. Adolescents’ exposure to tobacco and alcohol content in YouTube music videos. Addiction (Abingdon, England). 2014. Luo C, Zheng X, Zeng DD, Leischow S. Portrayal of electronic cigarettes on YouTube. BMC public health. 2014;14:1028. Huang J, Kornfield R, Szczypka G, Emery SL. A cross-sectional examination of marketing of electronic cigarettes on Twitter. Tobacco control. 2014;23 Suppl 3:iii26-iii30.
[4] Cantrell J, Ganz O, Emelle B, et al. Mobile marketing: an emerging strategy to promote electronic nicotine delivery systems. Tobacco control. 2017;26(e2):e1-e3.