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The 12 Days of Christmas are nearly upon us. Manufacturers of e-cigarettes and e-liquids are celebrating the season by giving their true loves holiday-flavored vape juice. Although the partridge in the pear tree would rather not breathe in the harmful chemicals of secondhand vapor, we bring you five golden flavors being promoted (with company descriptors included):
1. Extreme Ice: Ultra-fresh. Like taking in that first deep breath of winter.
2. Candy Cane: Claimed to be an ideal stuffing stuffer with hints of strawberry, peppermint and candy.
3. I Love Cookies: Because Santa isn’t the only one who deserves milk and cookies.
4. Gingerbread: Adds a warm, cozy vape to your festive diet.
5. Graham Cracker: Comes in multiple nicotine levels. And keeps you feeling Christmassy all day long.
This popular strategy of marketing e-cigarettes and nicotine “e-juice” with a wild
assortment of candy, fruit and other flavors has become the norm, during the holidays and beyond. Flavors, more than a critical part of the product design, are a key marketing ploy for the industry. The 2016 Surgeon General Report on e-cigarettes concluded that, “E-cigarettes are promoted by marketing flavors and using a wide variety of media channels and approaches that have been used in the past for marketing conventional tobacco products to youth and young adults.”
Given this irresponsible marketing, it’s not surprising that 20% of high school seniors are regularly vaping, according to a recent Monitoring the Future survey from the University of Michigan.