New reports from the CDC claim that TV, print and online advertisements about e-cigarettes are specifically targeting teens in America. According to Center of Disease Control statistics, 7 out of 10 high school and middle school students are exposed to e-cigarette advertisements.
E-Cigarettes Have Great Marketing Teams
Companies that produce e-cigarettes are investing tens of millions of dollars to target American teenagers specifically. Most of them use similar themes: rebellion, independence, and sex. The tobacco industry did the same. This resulted in a peak in kids smoking and kids with tobacco addictions.
The point of e-cigarettes was to be an alternative to tobacco smoking in adults. They should not induce a smoking habit in teenagers. After decades of pushing back the trend, it is turning itself around. This is probably happening because e-cigarettes are not regulated as closely as they should be. Many organizations have encouraged governments to take action. Some flavors in e-cigarettes are known to give people diseases like popcorn lung among other health effects that have not been properly dealt with.
E-Cigarette Ads Will Soon Be Banned
Tobacco ads were banned in America as of 1971, and soon enough, the same will happen for e-cigarettes. Right now, nearly seventy percent of all teenagers are exposed to these ads. This makes them more vulnerable to nicotine addiction.
Between 2011 and 2014, advertising funds for e-cigarettes went from $6.4 million to $115 million. That’s a very significant change. Use of e-cigarettes in high school students rocketed to 13.4%. Use among middle school students went up to 3.9%.
Teens Prefer E-Cigarettes to Marijuana and Cocaine
Marijuana and cocaine are not widely advertised in the media. Because of that, e-cigarettes have become more popular. Nicotine is highly addictive. I can prime the human brain to become dependent on other substances. This kind of danger has to be avoided. Gateway drugs like alcohol and nicotine are probably the most dangerous.
How to Deal with the Threat of E-Cigarettes
The CDC has made several suggestions as to how this should be handled. The government could enforce a law that required tobacco and e-cigarette sellers to be a certain distance from schools. They could limit tobacco sales to places that do not admit students. This is probably the most reasonable way to handle this on the short-term. On the long term, e-cigarettes will follow the same path as traditional cigarettes and get banned completely from the media.
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