Flavored E-cigarette Advertisements Tempting Children to Vaping

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.

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.

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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Source-Medindia