More than 18 million middle and high school students in America—7 out of 10—saw electronic cigarette ads in 2014, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many of these ads, pervasive on social media, attract teens by suggest that “vaping” e-cigarettes makes you sexy, rebellious, or independent.
As e-cigarette advertising has surged, so has adolescents’ use of e-cigarettes. In 2014, e-cigarettes became the most commonly used tobacco product among young people—more common than conventional cigarettes. High schoolers’ e-cigarette use jumped from 1.5% to 13.4% between 2011 and 2014; middle schoolers’ use grew from 0.6% to 3.9%.
“Young people who never would have used conventional products may be using e-cigarettes,” said Vaughan Rees, director of the Center for Global Tobacco Control at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in a January 5, 2016 CBS News article. Rees noted that while most forms of advertising for conventional cigarettes are banned or no longer used, there aren’t regulations governing how e-cigarettes are advertised.
Nicotine exposure from e-cigarettes at a young age may cause lasting harm to brain development, promote addiction, and lead to ongoing tobacco use in adulthood, according to CDC Director Tom Frieden.
Read the CBS News article: E-cigarette ads reach millions of children and teens
Learn more
Chemicals linked with severe respiratory disease found in common e-cigarette brands (Harvard Chan School release)
The E-Cig Quandary (Harvard Public Health magazine)