The dangers of e-cigarette addiction, especially for teenagers have prompted legislators to take a deeper look into the practices that make e-cigarette devices so popular, especially with teens. E-cigarette addiction rates can be especially dangerous for teenagers whose brains are still developing.

The FDA has recently called out various e-cigarette companies that have made use of a popular social media marketing tool known as influencer marketing. Influencer marketing involves using someone with a large following on social media or a celebrity status to promote a product to their followers.

Formal warnings were issued by the US Federal government to companies that are using influencers to promote their e-cigarette products. According to the FTC and reported by ABC News, these promotional posts shared on social media did not include the required safety warnings over nicotine.

The FDA has begun to crackdown on e-cigarette marketing, e-cig marketing campaigns and choices, especially since some leaders in that agency consider the e-cigarette addiction rates an epidemic when used by minors.

Approximately one out of every four high school students have used e-cigarettes in the last year, according to a study shared by the Center for Disease Control, indicating an increasing trend in the e-cigarette addiction and tobacco product use among teens.

Certain e-cigarette devices have new ways of delivering nicotine, such as salt formulation. According to the makers of these devices, such as the JUUL e-cigarette, the nicotine salt formulation increases the amount of nicotine and the rate of nicotine delivered into the blood when compared to other types of formulations.

Companies like JUUL have used it as a positive marketing point that their device contains high levels of nicotine. Sometimes people who use e-cigarettes are doing so because they are attempting to switch from traditional cigarettes, but a new portion of the market is picking up vaping as an activity all on its own.

Not recognizing the potential for nicotine addiction that starts through vaping, the government has been looking into research and studies about how this is affecting young adults across the U.S. In fact, Truth in Initiative reports that 60 percent of teens believe incorrectly that e-cigarettes are comprised mostly of flavoring

Tobacco companies attempting to draw in younger teens have long been prohibited from questionable advertising efforts, but vaping and e-liquid developers have capitalized on the youth market using influencers on social media.

This has raised questions about the dangers of e-cigarette addiction for teens who have been included as a target market by many of these vaping companies

As pointed out by the Center on Addiction, e-cigarettes and vaping devices are not exclusively used by those individuals who are hoping to quit smoking. Instead, they are becoming popular with youth who had never previously used cigarettes, and some research has even shown that young people have begun to smoke cigarettes only after using e-cigarette devices.

This could indicate that these young adults are suffering from e-cigarette addiction or high nicotine addiction rates.

Some parents believe that companies have been unethically marketing specifically to teens, making vaping appear like a relatively safe and cool activity without providing the important information about the risk of nicotine addiction.

Learn More

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