Flavored E-cigarette Advertisements Tempting Children to Vaping

E-cigarettes currently remain unregulated and companies are free to add flavors that are more likely to tempt children to try them.

Children are getting attracted more to flavored e-cigarettes than non-flavored e-cigarettes, revealed a new study.

The study published in the BMJ Tobacco Control showed that advertisements featuring electronic cigarettes with flavors like chocolate, bubble gum are more likely to attract schoolchildren.

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‘Ads featuring e-cigarettes with kid-friendly flavors like chocolate or bubble gum appear to increase kids' interest in buying and trying an e-cigarette.’

Advertisements are tempting children to try e-cigarettes with kids-friendly flavors as they are not aware about the ill-effects of tobacco.

The study was conducted by researchers from UK’s Cambridge University among 598 schoolchildren who were divided into three groups. The first group was shown ads for candy-flavored e-cigarettes; a second group was shown ads for non-flavored e-cigarettes; and a third, control group, was not shown any ads.

"Answering this question is important because e-cigarette use amongst children in the last year has tripled in the USA [from 4.5 percent to 13 percent] and almost doubled in England [from 5 percent to 8 percent]," said lead author Milica Vasiljevic, a research associate at the Cambridge.

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Researchers then asked the children about how much they liked the ads, and how interested they might be in buying and trying e-cigarettes. They found that the children who were shown the ads for candy-flavored e-cigarettes expressed a greater interest to try e-cigarettes than others.

“We’re cautiously optimistic from our results that e-cigarette ads don’t make tobacco smoking more attractive, but we’re concerned that ads for e-cigarettes with flavors that might appeal to schoolchildren could encourage them to try the products,” she added.

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Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a nicotine-containing liquid, which is inhaled much like a cigarette.

Source-Medindia

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