Marketing Techniques Used by the Best Electronic Cigarettes and Vape Shop Companies to Target Teens and Young Adults
Manufacturers and sales marketers of e-cigarettes have been actively and aggressively targeting young people, from producing a great and appealing e-juice flavors to offering a scholarship in different colleges. The United States Food and Drug Administration, as well as federal government and local authorities, have been allowing shop owners and e-cigarette manufacturers to promote their products in traditional platforms like television, radio and the internet. The ban on cigarette advertising of 1971, to reduce tobacco marketing to teens and children does not cover electronic cigarettes. Vape shops and manufacturers also take advantage of other means of marketing outlets like recreational events and venues.
Kids, teenagers or young adults are very exposed to electronic cigarette marketing, and most of them know how to use them. It is considered one of the most popular and widely used tobacco products among kids and teenagers. By 2015 to 2016, at least one out of 2 middle school and high school students experienced using an e-cigarette, or at least 20 million teens saw e-cigar marketing advertisements, either in television, print ads, or on the internet. If the trend continues among the best electronic cigarettes, 2019 will be a good year. Here are some of the ways on how electronic cigarette manufacturers will market vape products to target teens and young adult.
Scholarship offering
There are e-cigarette manufacturers that offer college scholarships, ranging from $500 to $6,000. It involves asking potential scholars to write essays on how people can benefit from vaping. It is according to a report by the Associated Press. All manufacturers, as well as shop owners, say that the product they are selling is intended for adult smokers who want to quit smoking, but according to the Associated Press, although the age that the scholarship is targeting is 18 years old, and above, people who buy e-cigarettes are sometimes younger, actually, buying vape products has no age limit. Most kids and teens who purchase these products are not even smokers; they use e-cigars for fun.
Use Social Media
Manufacturers are using Social Media at their advantage, making appearances on news feeds and timelines as sponsored advertisements. Since most e-cig companies are startups and don’t have enough money to use traditional advertisement platforms like television, radio or print ads, they are using the internet to promote and market their products. These companies spend their money promoting the products on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, associating cape with coolness, relaxation, sex appeal and freedom.
Sponsoring events like music festivals
In 2013, an e-cig company, blu, sponsored an event in Washington, the Sasquatch! Music Festival. It features a vape lounge and surprise celebrity guests, charging stations, social media photo booths and the company gives out free samples of their electronic cigarette products. Recently, another vape manufacturer sponsored a summit at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. These are just some of the marketing techniques that traditional cigarette companies can’t do, since there is a ban on tobacco marketing in traditional media.
Create and market different flavors that appeal to teens and young adults
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 bans flavorings in cigarettes, well, except menthol. It prevents teens and young adults under 18 from using cigarettes. But this ban is not applicable to other tobacco products like e-cigarette. E-cig companies capitalize on this loophole by offering teen-friendly flavors like pastries, cotton candy, gummy bears or fruity, and designing their packages to look like common food packaging.
(To know more about The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009, visit https://www.fda.gov/tobaccoproducts/guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/ucm246129.htm.)
Attractive e cigarette or vape juice flavors
Teens and young adult electronic cigarette users use-cig products because of the flavors. It is the main reason why most people are hooked to e-cigarettes. According to studies conducted in middle school and high school students, 43 percent of teens and young adults that uses electronic cigarette devices started vaping because of the different varieties of e-juice. Just this year, the United States Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Federal Trade Commission and local, state authorities, conducted a joint action against several electronic cigarette manufacturers that market their e-liquids or vape juice to look like or taste like popular kid-friendly candies and food items. E-liquids that looks like Warheads, Nilla Wafers or Reddi Wip has been banned in the market. Anti-smoking advocates like Truth Initiatives has repeatedly asked the Food and Drug Administration to make a full regulation on all electric cigarette products and devices to reduce appeal, use and access by kids, teens or young adults.
