E-cigarettes are
following in the footsteps of their nonelectronic predecessors by utilizing
advertising means no longer available to traditional cigarettes and increasing
their ad spending on techniques such as television commercials, promotions,
events, sample giveaways, celebrity endorsers, and slogans such as “A perfect
puff every time.”
Electronic
cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a nicotine solution into a
vapor inhaled by users. While the chemicals of tobacco cigarettes are not
included, the addictive feature of nicotine remains. The use of e-cigarettes
has climbed steadily, with 6 percent of all adult Americans and 21 percent of
adult smokers trying them in 2011, nearly twice the rates in 2010, according to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Unlike tobacco
cigarettes, which are heavily regulated, e-cigarettes are free from laws that
limit their methods of marketing. As a result, brands such as Blu eCigs have
spent $12.4 million on advertising for the first quarter of 2013, up from less
than $1 million last year. They feature endorsements from actor Stephen Dorff
and personality Jenny McCarthy. Traditional cigarette companies such as
Lorillard and Reynolds are also getting in on the action by purchasing or
launching their own lines of e-cigarettes.
The advertising
itself even references tobacco cigarettes, with campaigns that seek to make
smoking acceptable again. In a Blu eCigs ad, for example, Dorff praises
e-cigarettes because they can be smoked “at a basketball game . . . in a bar
with your friends . . . virtually anywhere,” adding, “Come on, guys, rise from
the ashes.”
But with the
increased profile may come regulation.
“It is beyond
troubling that e-cigarettes are using the exact same marketing tactics we saw
the tobacco industry use in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, which made it so effective
for tobacco products to reach youth,” Matthew L. Myers, president of the
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told The New York Times. “The real threat is
whether, with this marketing, e-cigarette makers will undo 40 years of efforts
to deglamorize smoking.”
States such as
Indiana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Mississippi, and Utah have already extended
restrictions on tobacco cigarettes to include e-cigarettes, while other states
such as California and Pennsylvania are considering similar laws. Inhalation of
e-cigarettes is prohibited on Amtrak trains and onboard U.S. planes.
The Food and Drug
Administration is said to be planning the release of proposed regulations in
October. Referencing a report from the financial group CLSA Americas, AdAge
reported that the agency is expected to propose a ban on TV advertising to set
limits on sales to minors, implement the possibility of a warning label, and
restrict online sales. An FDA spokesperson said she could not comment on
specifics of a proposed rule, but that the agency “intends to propose a
regulation that would extend the agency’s ‘tobacco product’ authorities – which
currently only apply to cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco,
and smokeless tobacco – to other categories of tobacco products that meet the
statutory
definition of ‘tobacco product.’ Further research is needed to assess the
potential public health benefits and risks of electronic cigarettes and other
novel tobacco products.”
Why it matters:
The increasing use and potential regulation of e-cigarettes may trigger another
round of tobacco wars between industry and the government. Debate about the
product remains – is it an alternative form of smoking, or a means of quitting,
like nicotine gum? Should e-cigarettes be taxed and regulated like traditional
tobacco products, with age limits, warning labels, and a ban on certain forms
of advertising such as TV, or are they a separate and distinct category of
products? If and when the FDA wades into the issue, the fight will truly begin.
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