One of the major e-cig health issues is addiction among young people, and current lawsuits claim that manufacturers deliberately targeted youth in their ads. Although companies such as JUUL Labs have denied that they have ever advertised to underage persons, the record and the evidence indicates otherwise. These manufacturers of e-cigarettes and vape products now stand accused of causing an epidemic of addiction that has had serious, and even fatal consequences.

Aggressive Campaigns

JUUL Labs has emphatically insisted that its products were never intended to be used by minors. However, in April of 2017, company representatives visited a public school in New York City, where they met with students in a meeting where no faculty was present and informed them that JUUL products were “totally safe.” Over a year later, the company paid $134,000 to a Baltimore charter school organization for the purpose of setting up a five-week program for children on “healthy lifestyles.”

According to testimony given at a House subcommittee this past July, this was just the tip of the iceberg. In 2018, JUUL paid the Richmond, California Police Department $90,000 for presenting its own vaping education program, known as “Moving Beyond,” to school children who had been suspended for smoking. The company has also offered checks for $10,000 to numerous schools across the U.S. to be allowed to meet with students after school hours.

This is in addition to active social media campaigns that have featured images of attractive young people and of course, fruit and candy-flavored vape pods that appeal to children, all of which have contributed to today’s e-cig health issues. In fact, surveys indicate that flavorings are the primary appeal for teenagers who vape.

Advertising Tactics

The anti-tobacco education organization Truth Initiative reports that e-cigarette companies have been using four major strategies for targeting youth:

• Scholarships: a number of these manufacturers have offered scholarships based on student essays on topics such as the “potential benefits” of vaping, and how e-cigarettes may help tobacco users.
• Social Media “buzz”: After the company launched in 2015, JUUL Labs spent in excess of $1 million on social media campaigns featuring imagery depicting e-cigarettes as fashionable, fun and “hep.”
• Sponsoring entertainment events: Numerous e-cigarette companies have sponsored concerts at which e-cigarette products were featured prominently
• Appealing flavors: although flavored tobacco cigarettes were banned in 2009, no such regulations have been in place for e-cigarettes.

Accountability for E-cig Health Issues

The federal government dropped the ball in 2016 when the FDA attempted to institute a ban on flavored vape when it was formulating new rules for e-cigarettes. However, state and local governments are moving forward in enacting their own bans and restrictions. At the same time, numerous lawsuits against e-cigarette manufacturers are moving forward, including one filed in New York City against 22 online e-cigarette retailers, who are accused of marketing to minors in violation of a law that has been in place since 2013.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.