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More than 18 million kids exposed to e-cigarette ads over 1 year

A recent report from the CDC showed that approximately seven in 10 middle school and high school students saw electronic cigarette advertisements in 2014.

“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. I hope all can agree that kids should not use e-cigarettes,” Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, CDC Director, said in a press release.

Researchers analyzed data from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey to assess the frequency of middle school and high school students’ exposure to e-cigarette advertisements. Assessed sources of exposure included retail stores, the Internet, television or movies and newspapers and magazines.

Results demonstrated that 68.9% of students (n = 18.3 million) reported seeing e-cigarette advertisements from at least one source in 2014.

Retail stores were the source of 52.8% of middle school students’ and 56.3% of high school students’ exposure to e-cigarette ads, followed by the Internet, television and movies and newspapers and magazines.

Seventeen percent of high school students and 17.4% of middle school students reported seeing e-cigarette advertisements from two sources; 14.5% of high school students and 13% of middle school students reported exposure from three sources. Exposure from all four sources was reported by 18.2% of high school students and 11.9% of middle school students, according to the researchers.

The researchers noted that since tobacco product advertising has been shown to have an impact on adolescent tobacco use initiation, efforts are needed to reduce children’s exposure to advertisements for tobacco and electronic cigarettes. 

“Multiple approaches are warranted to reduce youth e-cigarette use and exposure to e-cigarette advertisements, including efforts to reduce youth access to the settings where tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, are sold, and regulation of youth-oriented e-cigarette marketing. The implementation of these approaches, in coordination with fully funded and sustained comprehensive state tobacco control programs, has the potential to reduce all forms of tobacco use among youths, including e-cigarette use,” the researchers concluded. – by Casey Hower