Marketing strategies of e-cigs toward kids is disturbing

Youth survey found students wouldn’t use e-cigs if not flavored

A 2016 youth tobacco survey last year found that 88 percent of high school students in Wisconsin wouldn’t partake in e-cigarettes if they weren’t flavored.

The Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services is coming out with a media blitz, warning parents of the changing products.

The “Tobacco is Changing” campaign focuses on the alternatives to regular cigarettes, particularly their marketing toward kids.

“They have bubble gum, cotton candy flavor,” Allergist Todd Mahr at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse said of the different types of vaping liquids. “They have all these flavorings of these cigarettes that adults are never going to really truly want. So, you can’t tell me that that’s not marketing for children.”

The 2016 survey also showed 13 percent of students use e-cigs, and Mahr said it’s the kids’ reasoning for the use that’s most disturbing.

“We see a lot of youth looking at e-cigarettes as an alternative that they feel isn’t as harmful as it truly is,” he said.

E-cigs may be somewhat better than an actual cigarette, Mahr said e-cigs are still bad, especially for kids.

“They still have nicotine and a number of other chemicals that are not good for you – basically similar chemicals to what’s in anti-freeze,” Mahr said. “So, you’re inhaling that into your lungs, which is not meant to be done.”

Another survey of parents found a high number are concerned about the products being marketed towards kids.