“The Vape Industry Can’t Advertise to Kids, But Anti-Tobacco Crusaders Are Doing It For Them,” reads Rodu’s blog. He explains that while anti-vape entities have been blaming e-cigarette manufacturers and retailers for increased teen vaping rates for years. In reality, they are feeding the so called “epidemic” by running numerous campaigns which instead of deterring teens from the products, are educating them about how easy they are to use and why they are so appealing.
“Anti-vape organizations are running pervasive information campaigns that inundate youth with cartoons and other hip images, photos of kids vaping, and attractive illustrations of vape flavors. Anti-tobacco forces are actually encouraging kids to try e-cigarettes by underscoring how easy it is to use the products, the array of available flavors, and the enticing nicotine buzz that accompanies their use,” said Rodu.
The professor shares “an impressive collection of prohibitionists’ unintended pro-vaping images and advertisements in this twitter thread,” provided by Charles Gardner. Rodu highlighted that similarly last year, public health expert Clive Bates ridiculed the FDA’s poorly crafted vaping epidemic ad campaign, which instead of putting teens off vaping, only enticed them to experiment.
New Carolina County Uses Geofencing in Anti-Vaping Social Media Campaign
