Electronic cigarette advertisements: Are they trustable?

Abstract

The prevalence of e-cigarette use or vaping among youths has constantly increased worldwide which has been proven to be associated with massive marketing and advertising campaigns from the tobacco industry. This article aimed to present key facts that the public should be aware of e-cigarette use and the marketing tactics which have been used to advertise e-cigarettes by the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry has quickly and continuously innovated and developed e-cigarette devices and related products to produce highly addictive and world widely utilizable tobacco products to facilitate and motivate vapers’ use. The tobacco industry has used different communication channels to attract the attention of youths such as social media, print, TV, and radio to deliver messages about its products by using a variety of advertising tactics such as the myriad of flavors that specifically appeal to youths, the appearance of vibrant colors of the e-cigarette devices, a portrayal of e-cigarette used by social media influencers or celebrities, etc. The tobacco industry has continuously conveyed significant misrepresentation of information to the public to attract and persuade youths to try and use e-cigarettes and related products in both direct and indirect ways without concern of its substantial effects on health, contrasting with the facts, e-cigarette use has confirmed from numerous studies regarding the potential for various short- and long-term health effects as well as nicotine addiction. Therefore, healthcare providers and policymakers should seriously control the marketing and advertising of distorting information about e-cigarettes and related products by the tobacco industry.