What prompted me to write this article is the rash of nicotine vaping related television commercials I’ve been seeing at night all from our friends at Big Tobacco.
This may lead people to believe that Big Tobacco cares about our health. They care about tobacco harm reduction much like those who CREATED the vaping industry. They don’t. Not even a little bit. If they did, they’d stop selling cigarettes, period.
If they did, as Dimitris said on the panel in France, they would fight along side us. They would fight against 21+, they would fight for flavors, they would fight for an adult’s right to make a choice, to save their life.
Speaking of flavors, let’s be honest folks… Big Tobacco DOES NOT WANT FLAVORS!! They cannot compete with flavors. They cannot flavor their cigarettes.
So why is Big tobacco in the vapor space now?
Because vaping works, and they know that. Because they need to compete. Because they need to protect their revenue stream.
If the industry WE created did not work, was not satisfying, was not more successful than all the cessation products on the market today… they would not be in the game. They would continue to sell cigarettes, they would continue to kill people, and tobacco harm reduction wouldn’t even be a thought in their pretty little heads.
Oh, and let me stress that… WE created this industry. This industry was born on the net. It was propelled by forums, and Facebook groups, and YouTube channels. It was all of us together that created the vaping industry. Although the industry, to its detriment, may have lost it’s way for a while and forgot about the smoker, the industry was created to save lives. Can’t say the same for those who sell cigarettes and are NOW getting into the vaping game.
They may claim to care. They may hide behind the shield of tobacco harm reduction, but I would hope most people can see through that as they continue to sell a product responsible for 480,000 deaths in the United States per year.
So with all the negativity towards vaping right now, why do they continue to spend advertising dollars on big ticket items such as TV commercials.? Well, they can afford it for one, but I also think it’s something we can learn from.
More people now know about vaping then ever before. It’s all over the news. Sure, for the most part it’s negative, but more and more positive information is and will be coming out. People are going to be hearing both sides of the story. Maybe smart people will begin to ask questions. Maybe smart people will begin to wonder why over in the EU vaping is embraced, supported, recommended, and you can even find vape shops in hospitals. Maybe smart people will begin to piece together what’s REALLY going on in the United States and it ain’t about health. Maybe smart people will realize, that if they smoke, they can potentially save their lives with nicotine vaping.
With this in mind, maybe we as an industry need to target those smart people. The adult smoker who is interested in tobacco harm reduction. The adult smoker who never even heard of vaping until now and is asking questions about it. We need to step it up, not slow it down. We need to step it up by going back to the basics, by creating a responsible and approachable industry, by focusing on tobacco harm reduction and the adult smoker, and by coming together and putting out positive PR on vaping.
You know what the beauty is of positive PR on vaping? It’s not lying. It’s telling the truth. It’s getting the truth to the public who have a bad taste in their mouth right now about vaping due to the misinformation they’ve been force fed by our news outlets and our government.
Let continue to remain positive, continue to tell the truth about vaping, and continue to spread the message of tobacco harm reduction. Maybe, just maybe, this can all be used to our advantage.
Vape Happy My Friends!!
Store
