CEO DATELINE - Association: E-cigarette ads not targeting kids
CEO DATELINE - Association: E-cigarette ads not targeting kids
- January 7, 2016 |
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Walt Williams
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says e-cigarette companies have drastically increased spending on advertisements promoting their products to minors, but an association representing the industry calls the agency's conclusions "misleading."
E-cigarette companies spent $114 million on advertising in 2014, up from $6.4 million in 2011, according to the CDC's 2014 National Tobacco Youth Survey, released Wednesday. The agency said many of the ads use themes once used to advertise cigarettes—including sex, independence and rebellion.
More than 10 million high school students and 8 million middle school students were exposed to e-cigarette ads in 2014, the CDC said. During the three-year time period in which e-cigarette companies were raising their advertising budgets, e-cigarette use among high school students increased from 2 percent to 13 percent. Use among middle school students increased from less than 1 percent to nearly 4 percent.
"The same advertising tactics the tobacco industry used years ago to get kids addicted to nicotine are now being used to entice a new generation of young people to use e-cigarettes," said CDC Director Tom Frieden. http://1.usa.gov/1RlmQis
The Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association, which represents the e-cigarette industry, countered by alleging the agency failed to note that minors are exposed to "many other adult issues on the Internet, TV and movies, such as violence, sex and alcohol."
"The CDC's survey on teen use of e-cigs itself is flawed and provides no evidence that vapor products lead to continued use among minors and raises questions about the data collection methodology," SFATA said in a statement. "While teens may potentially experiment, it's vital that parents and guardians talk to their children about not using any age-restricted products."
The association added that its industry has always supported age restrictions on e-cigarettes.
These are adult products, sold to adults by adults," it said. http://bit.ly/1Uzpqie
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