Flavored E-Cigarette Ads Can Attract Children To Vaping: Study

University of Cambridge researchers have found flavored e-cigarette advertisements can entice children to vape. Findings raised concerns that vaping among children and teenagers can eventually result in tobacco smoking.

The research, which was conducted for the Department of Health, showed children exposed to ads showing fruit- and candy-flavored e-cigarettes showed increased interest in trying and buying them.

The team enrolled 598 school children for the study and divided them into three groups. The first group was shown advertisements for candy-like flavored e-cigarettes while the second group saw non-flavored e-cigarettes. The third group (control) was not shown any advertisements.

To measure the ads' appeal and perceived harm on children (both tobacco and e-cigarette smoking), they were asked if they think using e-cigarettes or smoking was 'cool', 'fun' or 'attractive.' They were also asked if they liked the ads they saw and if they are interested in trying the flavored e-cigarettes.

The kids who saw the candy-flavored e-cigarettes liked the ads more and showed increased interest in trying them compared to the other two groups. However, the ads did not make significant difference to overall appeal of using e-cigarettes or tobacco smoking. This means, the children did not find the habit considerably cool, fun or attractive.

University of Cambridge's Milica Vasiljevic added that they are "cautiously optimistic" about the study findings that e-cigarettes do not make tobacco smoking more enticing. However, they worry that ads for flavored e-cigarette might entice young children to try the products. Vasiljevic is from Cambridge's Department of Public Health and Primary Care.

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In the United Kingdom (UK), it is against the law to sell e-liquids and e-cigarettes to consumers under 18 years old. However, based on the university's Behaviour and Health Research Unit research team, the rate of underage users surged from 5 percent in 2013 to 8 percent in 2014.

The regulations were first rolled out, companies making liqueur- and candy-flavored tobacco products marketed heavily among young consumers, especially from the 1970s to 2009. Today, e-cigarettes have around 8,000 flavors.

The Committee on Advertising Practice issued new rules but these do not include the clear prohibitions of ads selling candy-flavored tobacco products. The findings support the need for greater ad regulations of e-cigarettes. The team suggests that e-cigarette ads must not appeal to underage consumers.

Further study is needed to analyze the short- and long-term effects of e-cigarettes advertisements as well as the link between tobacco smoking and e-cigarette use.

"Responsible e-cigarette marketing needs to recruit adults away from smoking and in the UK it has been effective in doing this. And there is no evidence that advertising has encouraged young people to take up regular vaping," said Public Health England's director for health and wellbeing Professor Kevin Fenton.