New cartoon study urges young adults to vape

A new study from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, found that the incidence of vaping in young people was increasing because of advertising for electronic cigarettes using cartoon characters. It seems that the fact that users never recognize the characters involved triggers positive expectations about the vaping product.

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Vaping refers to the use of an aerosol containing nicotine, flavors and other chemicals, inhaled and exhaled in the same way as ordinary cigarettes, from one person to another. battery powered device. It is supposed to help smokers quit, but has not yet been approved by the US FDA for this purpose. In fact, nicotine, regardless of its form, is highly addictive and, instead of helping e-cigarette users quit smoking, most of them end up using both traditional cigarettes and vapotage.

The study was published in the journal Addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Previous studies have blamed the role of cartoon character Joe Camel, developed by RJ Reynolds as the brand's mascot, in heightened product awareness and the appeal of traditional cigarettes in the target group. "Joe" also helped to establish the initial and usual use of cigarettes in this group. In fact, a shocking 1991 study, published in the newspaper JAMA, showed that in preschool children, Joe Camel was as immediately recognizable as Mickey!

Previous studies conducted by the same researchers showed that e-cigarette vendors were using the famous cartoon-based virtual reality game Pokemon Go to boost their online sales on Twitter. They also found that more than a fifth of the Instagram images published by manufacturers and sellers of e-liquids contained a cartoon.

This study once again confirms that cartel-based marketing helps to introduce and establish the use of new tobacco products in young adults. He used information from two groups of young adults who completed online surveys on their use of e-cigarettes. In the first series, 778 young adults aged 24 years on average (of whom over 60% were women) watched 22 images of liquid packaging. Some of these images represent caricatures, others do not. They were asked to specify if they recognized the characters.

The second study involved 522 participants, approximately 30 years old, on average, who viewed 24 images of cartons of liquids containing and without cartoons and badessed the appeal of the product.

In the first series, non-users who recognized cartoons images never reacted positively by choosing to use the product, with increased expectations in terms of social acceptability and taste pleasant. The call to the product showed no significant connection to comic-based marketing.

The study's author, Jon-Patrick Allen, said, "Cartoons seem very effective in increasing vulnerability to the use of electronic cigarettes in people who do not use them to start. Among young adults who had never used electronic cigarettes, we found that cartel-based marketing had a significant impact on their likelihood of using the products in the future. This is consistent with the general report of the 2015 US Surgeons on a shocking 900% increase in vape among high school students, with 40% of younger electronic cigarette users having never smoked regular tobacco (which precludes their choice of vape as a way to stop smoking).

The use of comics for the sale of combustible cigarettes is strictly regulated. However, the marketing of the electronic cigarette is not. This has led to the use of cartoon characters in two ways: as corporate logos and in the context of media designed to promote e-cigarettes and the sale of e-liquid online, including on the internet. social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Although cartoons are not the only factor in the consumer's decision to buy this product, they play an important role in determining the consumer's mind. This is similar to the trends already seen in the marketing of junk food and other products using cartoon characters.

In short, the present study highlights three salient points: first, characters and cartoon characters are deliberately used by manufacturers and sellers of electronic cigarettes to target young populations at risk. Second, these potential consumers are more likely to accept the product for initial use with positive expectations when they recognize cartoon characters. And thirdly, such recognition predisposes these consumers to think favorably of this habit.

The authors of the study suggest that the solution is for policymakers to limit this trend so that younger consumers are not selectively targeted on this dangerous habit. Allen summarizes as follows: "The data from this most recent study suggest the need for policies to extend the restrictions on comic book marketing to include the marketing of electronic cigarettes."