Marketing

The usage of vape products has increased by 780 percent from 2011, according to the Truth Initiative. Nathan Wells, owner of Vapor Generation LLC, attributes the rise to vapes to adults using them as a replacement for smoking, as opposed to youth dependence.

“The main attraction to vaping has been how well it replicates smoking. It satisfies oral fixation as well as nicotine cravings … two of the main reasons of why people smoke,” Wells said via email. “It has more potential to switch former smokers to a less harmful alternative than anything else on the market.”

So, despite the FDA’s action, Wells believes his business will remain largely unaffected.

“Contrary to popular opinion, [the FDA’s restrictions] wouldn’t have a large impact,” Wells said. “I do agree that there should be some sort of restriction on how the product is portrayed. [Manufacturers should] present the product in a professional manner in order to portray an adult oriented product, which most producers already do.”

However, according to one sophomore female, who requested anonymity because she is under the age of 18 and has vaped in school, the design of the devices is meant to target teenagers specifically.

“Juuls and [other e-cigarettes] are so easy to hide and the only people who need to be hiding them are people who [can’t use them legally],” the female said. “I think the easiness of them to be hidden is targeted towards teens and the fruity tastes of pods is targeted towards teens too.”

As for the methods of advertising, Kerry Benson, Strategic Communications chair at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas, agrees that e-cigarettes and vape products have shifted towards targeting teenagers through social media.

“[Vapes are] easy to hide, less intrusive in any setting and [they have] a modern vibe — even the vapor is ‘cooler’ than traditional smoke. In 2017, Juul began what I would call an aggressive social media campaign to promote its easy-to-hide e-cigarette,” Benson said via email. “It promoted sweet flavors, which are not as popular among older users, which seemed designed to hit teens. I think it’s a play for teens because your grandma probably isn’t as heavy a user of social media as most teens and she probably isn’t looking for snickerdoodle taste in a vape. It ain’t g-ma hittin’ Instagram and Snapchat several times a day.”

Though the marketing techniques play a role in the prevalence of vapes, the anonymous sophomore female believes that it is more common due to the current popularity of the product, with teenagers just wanting to follow the trend.

“[Students] buy one because they see other kids have it or they will hit someone else’s and then they are like ‘oh, I really like this, I want one for myself so I can do it whenever I want’ and they go and buy one,” the female said.

On the other hand, Wells believes the demand for vape in itself is what increased its popularity, even if he is for some marketing restrictions.

“The vaping market has had to use very little marketing to grow the industry to what it is today. The main reason is that these are products that smokers will seek out in a never-ending quest to quit,” Wells said. “Anyone, like myself, who has been unable to quit with traditional methods, is willing to give vaping a try. I am in favor of sensible regulations on social media such as flagging content for adults only.”

Ultimately, Benson foresees the FDA’s warnings will lead to advertisements shifting from overt to more restrained.

“Probably [as] much as [the] traditional promotion of old-school cigarettes shifted from blatant to more subtle, including different word choices in the ads,” Benson said. “It will shift with the language teens are already using as code for vaping. Teens will show marketers the path. All marketers need to do is pay attention to subtle cultural shifts.”