This does not help our cause!

[Idahojo]

Well I thought it was awful. Tried to send a message but they want all my info. Not comfortable with that.

[Smokingfreely]

Would a responsible US vendor display such a picture on their site? No. Is it clear that this vendor is trying to target children? Not neccessarily - my wife likes Hello Kitty stuff. Does anyone know what the target demographic for fluffy anime crap is in China? Maybe it is just kids, but I don't think we should assume based upon our own uniquely American experience.

Ultimately, the real question underlying your post is -should an isolated picture published by someone on the other side of the Globe have any bearing on the legitimacy of a whole genre of products here? Clearly, no. You can find pictures of all sorts of products being displayed or used in ways all over the internet that are unsafe, unethical, etc. and no one is going to penalize a whole industry over it. I'm sure I could easily find teenagers tazing or defibrilating each other for a quick laugh on youtube with pretty minimal effort - should we pull these items off the market?

The day that some jackass sells one of these to a minor, then we have a real problem! A stupid picture on Alibaba that the general public's very unlikely to see if it's not posted on public forums such as these is not a real problem as far I can imagine.

[Skad]

All this talk about the worries of selling these to kids makes me wonder about the youth of today.

Would a teenager actually buy an e-cig? You're talking about a minimum of 50 or 60 bucks to start with, and it's not like analogs are that hard for them to get ahold of.

Back when I was a teenager, if I had that kind of money to blow on something like that, I'd have been much more likely to invest in more interesting substances then nicotine. I know I'm getting old, but I can't imagine that things have changed that much.

[Smokingfreely]

Skad, that's really a pretty valid point. Smoking's certainly not what the "cool kids" are doing anymore anyways. But even if there's not a rash of kids trying to get their hands on one, it only takes one kid and one press release or lawsuit and the legitimacy of this industry goes straight down the crapper.

Granted, kids get regular cigs, but that's yesterdays news and not so interesting as this new device with all its "kid-friendly flavors" that indiscrimately sell to juveniles, etc.... Is it really that hard to imagine where this ends up? The villagers grab their pitchforks and torches, etc...

[jamie]

Is it clear that this vendor is trying to target children? Not neccessarily - my wife likes Hello Kitty stuff. Does anyone know what the target demographic for fluffy anime crap is in China? Maybe it is just kids, but I don't think we should assume based upon our own uniquely American experience.

You are correct. Hello Kitty is a massively popular adult brand in dozens of countries, Nike popular. Anything Disney is consumed by all age groups all over the world, including the US. Many children's brands have offshoot adult or at least young adult products.