Most of the ecigarette cartridges come with an abundance of flavor options. I obviously get the tobacco flavor" as it helps it taste like a real cigarette but with other flavor alternatives like cherry, strawberry, and chocolate, is there a danger of attracting children into e-smoking? Kinda like the Joe Camel campaign during the 70's that critics later pointed out was aimed at kids.(with 20-20 hindsight) I am confident that was not the intent of e-cigarette industry with flavoring the cartridges but could it leave an opening for such a backlash? remember, this is still a relatively new idnustry. Curious to get the thoughts of the board on this. Thanks everyone.
Possible negative impact of the flavored cartridges
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Yeah, this is a common refrain from the anti-ecig crowd. Unfortunately, as the industry comes out with better devices and juices to make this process more enjoyable for us ex-smokers, it's also going to make vaping more attractive to everyone, including kids. I don't think the suppliers commonly used by people on this forum are trying to hook kids onto vaping. I can't speak for the PV manufacturers or the NJOYs of the world.
IMO, this is the one great benefit of the rip-off mall kiosks. Hopefully they are conveying the message to teenagers that e-cigs are extremely expensive.
IMO, this is the one great benefit of the rip-off mall kiosks. Hopefully they are conveying the message to teenagers that e-cigs are extremely expensive.
I see your point, but there are tons of yummy flavors of vodka and schnapps too - pretty much those same flavors. Parents need to step up to keep their kids away from cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. I certainly don't think those flavored options shouldn't be available for adults just because it might sound tempting to children.
I would say it's no more dangerous than big pharm having fruity flavored nicotine lozenges\gum.
In this link ( from target) they are even placed low enough that a young child would be face level with them lol.
Target Helps Prove Candy & Fruit Flavored Cigarette Bans Are Bull
In this link ( from target) they are even placed low enough that a young child would be face level with them lol.
Target Helps Prove Candy & Fruit Flavored Cigarette Bans Are Bull
I see where you are coming from on this one. I cannot speak for the manufactures but from my experience, once you start to get your taste back you want to try different flavors that are enjoyable, other than tobacco. I have not personally seen any advertising that I felt was aimed at kids. But of course it will be there for backlash, when parents do not want to take the responsibility upon themselves and redirect it at something else.
The last thing I want is something that tastes like burning tobacco and chemicals.
I've never seen e-cig marketing being even remotely anything extra appealing to children myself. Any advertising and web site I see are clearly adult oriented and make an effort to keep those under 18 away. Like someone else said, other things not aimed towards kids are fruity flavored, too. I actually don't think kids need fruit flavors to want try something they shouldn't either, look at analog cigs. I agree with those who say it is up to parents to educate and check their kids, as it is with alcohol and analogs. It is frustrating that any backlash I see seems to be based on lack of education about e-cigs and grasping at straws.
I'm an adult! - in fact, having just turned 64, I'm verging on old-codgerhood.
I like my fruit flavored juices.
I found the following in the Detroit Free Press sunday edition a couple weeks ago.
Are these folks, Candy-flavored liquor brings good luck to bar's partners, really trying to attract children?
Their web site: ...:::Hard Luck Candy Flavored Vodka:::...
Where it says, oh so succinctly:
"We have brought back your favorite old fashioned sweets in adult form."
The Save-The-Children types are grasping at straws.
They should be told so.
They should have their noses rubbed in it.
I like my fruit flavored juices.
I found the following in the Detroit Free Press sunday edition a couple weeks ago.
Are these folks, Candy-flavored liquor brings good luck to bar's partners, really trying to attract children?
Their web site: ...:::Hard Luck Candy Flavored Vodka:::...
Where it says, oh so succinctly:
"We have brought back your favorite old fashioned sweets in adult form."
The Save-The-Children types are grasping at straws.
They should be told so.
They should have their noses rubbed in it.
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This is one of those things that makes sense only before you start to think about it!
First, the only reason people smoke "tobacco flavored" cigarettes is because cigarettes are made of tobacco. If cigarettes were tasteless like VG/PG then the cigarette industry would look exactly like the vaping industry.
Second - Cherry and strawberry are not candy flavors. They are fruit flavors. Its not that children like sweet flavors - HUMANS like sweet flavors.
It's will never go away but the whole argument falls apart quickly.
Most of the tobacco vaping flavors don't even taste like tobacco.
The attraction of smoking has *never* truly been that it tastes good. I mean, seriously, how good can chopped up burning leaves of a poisonous plant truly be? Not very.
The attraction of smoking has always either been pharmacological (self-medication of anxiety, depression, etc.), social/peer-group driven (i.e. be a "rebel", counter-culture or deviate from social norms), or driven by marketing imagery (the rugged individualist cowboy, the woman who has come a long way to claim her place in society).
Taste is not a factor and to be quite blunt tobacco smoking is definitely an acquired taste. It smells horrid and tastes worse. The fact that so many people have adopted it despite how yucky it is ... is a testament to the power of the three factors I have listed moreso than to the not-so-yummy taste of the product itself.
Now, look at these things with relation to ecigs. Okay, granted, they can still be useful for self-medication for all the things where nicotine might prove useful. No debate. And someone seeking to medicate for anxiety MIGHT choose an e-cig over, say, Paxil combined with klonopin. And if they do, I'm not going to lose any sleep because big pharma is about as trustworthy as big tobacco and these other drugs are every bit as addictive plus have other adverse side effects.
How about the factor of deviation from social norms, giving society the middle finger, being a rebel and so forth? Well, a large part of that comes from the disapproval of authority figures and the fact smoking is well known to be dangerous. In fact, it was well known to be dangerous hundreds of years ago and the surgeon general didn't suddenly make an astonishing breakthrough in the 1950s. Even medical books from the 1800s document the adverse affects of smoking. Well, an e-cig isn't exactly going out on a limb. It's playing things pretty darned safe. Using an e-cig doesn't go well with laying rubber as you pull out of the parking lot or being tough and dangerous. In fact, for those purposes using an ecig will likely get your .... kicked. LOL
The power of marketing and advertising really can't be underestimated. HOWEVER -- its power over children is quite limited as it is a product that children cannot legally buy on their own. Certainly, just as kids can still get pot, alcohol, ...... and even illegal machine guns smuggled into the country, they might also get their hands on an e-cig because of the power of marketing, but I am not losing sleep over it. Will it happen? Sure. But the attraction is just not that great compared to many other prohibited things they can get their hands on. And a few kids getting their hands on prohibited things is one of the downsides of a free society.
It IS true that prohibitionist puritans will seek to regulate and prohibit just about anything that makes it appear someone is enjoying him or herself. And such puritans will seize upon practically any pretense for regulation. Such people also make a racket with their squeaky wheels that gives them inordinate attention and influence compared to their merit.
This is truly a cause of freedom because you know what? Even if I DO enjoy e-cigs, and I have one heck of a time using them, and even if they were 100 times more harmful than real cigs, it would be MY RIGHT to use them.
It is our task as reasoning and responsible persons to make sure the puritans do not get their way by taking time to get ourselves heard.
The attraction of smoking has always either been pharmacological (self-medication of anxiety, depression, etc.), social/peer-group driven (i.e. be a "rebel", counter-culture or deviate from social norms), or driven by marketing imagery (the rugged individualist cowboy, the woman who has come a long way to claim her place in society).
Taste is not a factor and to be quite blunt tobacco smoking is definitely an acquired taste. It smells horrid and tastes worse. The fact that so many people have adopted it despite how yucky it is ... is a testament to the power of the three factors I have listed moreso than to the not-so-yummy taste of the product itself.
Now, look at these things with relation to ecigs. Okay, granted, they can still be useful for self-medication for all the things where nicotine might prove useful. No debate. And someone seeking to medicate for anxiety MIGHT choose an e-cig over, say, Paxil combined with klonopin. And if they do, I'm not going to lose any sleep because big pharma is about as trustworthy as big tobacco and these other drugs are every bit as addictive plus have other adverse side effects.
How about the factor of deviation from social norms, giving society the middle finger, being a rebel and so forth? Well, a large part of that comes from the disapproval of authority figures and the fact smoking is well known to be dangerous. In fact, it was well known to be dangerous hundreds of years ago and the surgeon general didn't suddenly make an astonishing breakthrough in the 1950s. Even medical books from the 1800s document the adverse affects of smoking. Well, an e-cig isn't exactly going out on a limb. It's playing things pretty darned safe. Using an e-cig doesn't go well with laying rubber as you pull out of the parking lot or being tough and dangerous. In fact, for those purposes using an ecig will likely get your .... kicked. LOL
The power of marketing and advertising really can't be underestimated. HOWEVER -- its power over children is quite limited as it is a product that children cannot legally buy on their own. Certainly, just as kids can still get pot, alcohol, ...... and even illegal machine guns smuggled into the country, they might also get their hands on an e-cig because of the power of marketing, but I am not losing sleep over it. Will it happen? Sure. But the attraction is just not that great compared to many other prohibited things they can get their hands on. And a few kids getting their hands on prohibited things is one of the downsides of a free society.
It IS true that prohibitionist puritans will seek to regulate and prohibit just about anything that makes it appear someone is enjoying him or herself. And such puritans will seize upon practically any pretense for regulation. Such people also make a racket with their squeaky wheels that gives them inordinate attention and influence compared to their merit.
This is truly a cause of freedom because you know what? Even if I DO enjoy e-cigs, and I have one heck of a time using them, and even if they were 100 times more harmful than real cigs, it would be MY RIGHT to use them.
It is our task as reasoning and responsible persons to make sure the puritans do not get their way by taking time to get ourselves heard.
Well if they want to put down the flavors for ejuice then what about the cigar flavors and pipe flavors? LOL, I have only seen two kids smoke a pipe (me and my brother, got our butts kicked when we got caught too) It's a ploy to slam something that the FDA, local governments, the press, ect... has no clue about
Just my opinion here.
The main 3-4 flavors that come prefilled in such as njoy/blu that I've tasted are pretty (um how should I say this ewww) and actually turned me off to them for awhile until I found the online world and DIYing. (Thank goodness) And (again my opinion here) the "tobacco flavors" didn't taste like tobacco in any way.
Now the "abundance" of flavors I didn't find until I found a few of the pv forums and started actually looking for some actual juices that might be more to my own liking. Now buying these items I had to:
A: verify my age
B: pay via a credit card
C: Tinker till I found the right equipment that I want (still in the process of) and laying out a good sum of money in the process of (which I'd rather do to help fund our economy by giving my money to those who are inadvertantly helping me live a healthier lifestyle and creating more jobs in the process) and not giving same monies to the neverending cycle of large companies that have been sucking us dry and lying to us for years.
So my thing is simply this why should people who are trying to live a healthier lifestyle continue to be penalized because they are taking matters into thier own hands and finding flavors that they like and enjoy? Also may I point out that some not all don't even use nic in thier juices.
One other point is that I don't "e-smoke" anything I use a pv that does happen to produce a water vapor.
So at this point I really don't see a valid "being aimed at kids" argument in any way.
Frankly, the ridiculous thing about the knee-jerk think-of-the-children types -- aside from the obvious about thinking these things would be marketed to children to begin with -- is that there is no possible way to prevent flavoured juices from being available. Anybody can add flavouring to any juice (with the right base, anyway) so even if the planet was plunged into a mirror universe and they succeeded in lobbying to have flavoured E-juices banned, anyone can go buy flavourings and add them on their own.
Besides, how many varieties of flavoured blunt wraps are already available at your local mom 'n pop variety store?
Besides, how many varieties of flavoured blunt wraps are already available at your local mom 'n pop variety store?
Apparently according to the Gov't we adults are not entitled to 'flavor'.
Here in Utah, they removed all the flavored malt beverages (wine coolers, Bacardi Breezers, Smirnoff Ice kind of stuff) from being sold in grocery and convenience stores, because being flavored and having decorative labeling obviously was meant as a ploy to get kids to consume them illegally. Wouldn't want to put more pressure on retailers to check ID, or parents to police their own kids, so let's just deny the product to the entire populace.
The 'Joe Camel' thing? Sore spot for me, as I used to collect that Camel Cash and buy some cool stuffs with it! Really miss my Joe Camel duffel bag...
Grrrr...Sorry, I'm just of the mind that it's on the parents to handle the kids.
Here in Utah, they removed all the flavored malt beverages (wine coolers, Bacardi Breezers, Smirnoff Ice kind of stuff) from being sold in grocery and convenience stores, because being flavored and having decorative labeling obviously was meant as a ploy to get kids to consume them illegally. Wouldn't want to put more pressure on retailers to check ID, or parents to police their own kids, so let's just deny the product to the entire populace.
The 'Joe Camel' thing? Sore spot for me, as I used to collect that Camel Cash and buy some cool stuffs with it! Really miss my Joe Camel duffel bag...
Grrrr...Sorry, I'm just of the mind that it's on the parents to handle the kids.
why can't adults have flavors
Because being a grown up is supposed to SUCK.
As for getting kids in to smoking: Kids smoke to seem like ADULTS, if you went all out and market "cigarettes for kids" kids wouldn't even want anything to do with it. Young people smoke for the image, for the feeling of rebellion* and because it's fun. It's true that Joe Camel was aimed at young people, but look at the way that artwork worked, it was "cool" like an image of what kids want to be when they are older, he was always playing pool or on a motorcycle. Kids pretty much wish they could be like their older siblings.
Now as for marketing things to kids I would SERIOUSLY argue that marketing sugared breakfast cereal and fast food to kids is worse than e-cigaretts. I don't think the world is ready for that reality, but frankly it'd be great if every teen and pre-teen who is thing of picking up an analog cigarette this year got an e-cigarette instead (0mg mind you...)
Heck I wish I could go back in time and give my younger self one. I was going to smoke no matter what anyway.
Last point: old people like sweet stuff. I don't know why this is so hard to fathom.
*Mening the more you talk about how bad they are the more attractive they become. paradox.
I think what most ANTZ fail to realize when they talk about candy/fruit flavors being marketed to children is that they aren't marketed towards children our perception just makes us think they are.
For decades, hell half a century or more, since the beginning of television things that were sugary/sweet/candy-like were marketed towards kids. Here's a big old box of sugar coated over processed wheat flakes...its for kids...can't you see we put a cartoon tiger on the box. We put marshmallows in cereal, covered granola bars in chocolate, loaded oatmeal with sugar and dehydrated fruit bits and even went so far as to take good old fashioned milk and make it chocolate, strawberry, and even banana flavored in order to get kids to eat the stuff.
So for 50+ years the general consensus among manufacturers has been to make it sweet and/or fruity for kids. And for 50+ years advertisers have been slapping cartoon characters on products marketed for children.
Guess what, adults like sweet things too, would you really want to be restricted to only flavors that kids don't like?
"Hey ecofriendly, whatcha vapin today?"
"Brussel sprouts"
"That sucks, what happened to that sweet vanilla cherry milkshake flavor you had going last week?"
"BT and BP said it was marketed at kids, now we can only vape flavors they don't like. I got a 30mL bottle of asparagus spears comin in next week."
For decades, hell half a century or more, since the beginning of television things that were sugary/sweet/candy-like were marketed towards kids. Here's a big old box of sugar coated over processed wheat flakes...its for kids...can't you see we put a cartoon tiger on the box. We put marshmallows in cereal, covered granola bars in chocolate, loaded oatmeal with sugar and dehydrated fruit bits and even went so far as to take good old fashioned milk and make it chocolate, strawberry, and even banana flavored in order to get kids to eat the stuff.
So for 50+ years the general consensus among manufacturers has been to make it sweet and/or fruity for kids. And for 50+ years advertisers have been slapping cartoon characters on products marketed for children.
Guess what, adults like sweet things too, would you really want to be restricted to only flavors that kids don't like?
"Hey ecofriendly, whatcha vapin today?"
"Brussel sprouts"
"That sucks, what happened to that sweet vanilla cherry milkshake flavor you had going last week?"
"BT and BP said it was marketed at kids, now we can only vape flavors they don't like. I got a 30mL bottle of asparagus spears comin in next week."
I think everyone make some great pointson this topic. Just to clarify, i do not actually believe that fruity flavors are a threat to hook kids . I was just trying to be proactive and determine if that was a possible vulnerability for still a very young industry that regulators are still trying to figure out.(i.e. where it can be smoked, how the device should be classified, etc. ) I especially liked webmiztris' analogy to flavored vodka, which has those same fruity flavors. That is some good precedent if those accusations ever get thrown out there.
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