Promotion by vape shops and social media advertising are key ways young people are being exposed to the practice, a new study as found, as health experts sound alarm at the number of vape stores that continue to open throughout Australia.
More than 4,000 people aged between 15 and 30 across Australia, China, India and the UK were asked by researchers about their e-cigarette and tobacco use, their friends and family members who vape and their exposure to e-cigarette advertising.
The most common real-life settings where the 1,006 Australian respondents saw advertising were vape shops (45%), followed by tobacconists (35%), the study, published in the journal Tobacco Induced Diseases on Wednesday, found.
Thirty-one per cent of all respondents had seen vape ads on TikTok and Instagram, 25% had seen ads on Snapchat, 24% had viewed them on Facebook (24%) and one in five had seen ads on YouTube (22%).
“Despite advertising restrictions in place in all four countries, large majorities of young people reported being exposed to e-cigarette advertising,” the research, led by the George Institute for Global Health at the University of New South Wales, concluded.
“Social media and advertising on/around vape shops and other retailers appear to be key exposure locations.”
In Australia nicotine vaping products are only legal as a prescription product and there is a general ban on vape advertising, although pharmacies are allowed to communicate information about the availability of prescribed e-cigarette products in limited circumstances.
Despite this, vaping advertising is prolific, with many products labelled as “nicotine-free” despite containing high levels of nicotine to get around regulations.
It has prompted the federal government to announce reforms aimed at curbing the availability of vapes. But a start date is yet to be confirmed, as legislation needs to be developed and passed. A separate bill is before parliament aimed at cracking down on online advertising of vapes on social media.
Raglan Maddox, program lead of the Tobacco Free Program at the Australian National University, said in the meantime “bricks and mortar vaping stores are popping up fairly regularly not only in urban areas, but right throughout regional Australia as well”.
“When vapes are available pretty much 24/7 from a variety of stores, it undermines some of the messaging that they’re associated with harms,” he said.
A report published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies on Wednesday found vaping is associated with mental health challenges among adolescents, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, perceived stress and suicide‑related behaviours.
“Young people are asking the question, ‘If it is so harmful, why can I get vapes everywhere, anytime?’” Maddox said.
There is “growing urgency” for the vaping reforms promised by government to be introduced, he said.
“The communities I work with across the country are asking for and require further support to help minimise vaping harms, including exposure to the industry through these bricks and mortar stores,” he said.
The World Health Organization recommends banning all forms of e-cigarette and tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship.
The lead author of the survey, Prof Simone Pettigrew, said researchers also found that for every additional exposure to a source of vaping advertising, whether in a physical location or on a social media platform, the likelihood of using e-cigarettes increased.
“It’s possible that e-cigarette users are more receptive to advertising than non-users, or that social media algorithms may be targeting ads to those who vape, leading to increased exposure among current users,” she said.
Earlier in October the independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps led calls for an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the effect of advertising by harmful industries, including vaping, on young people.
A joint report by VicHealth and Quit examined the online marketing tactics of the vaping industry, finding many TikTok and Instagram accounts that post vaping content are masquerading as individual accounts, but are in fact directly linked to an online vape store.
The report also found that the vaping industry is increasingly using social media influencers, with Instagram home to more than 18,000 Australian “vaping influencer” profiles solely dedicated to promoting vaping.
The Quit director, Rachael Andersen, said “we eagerly await the announcement about legislative reform on both the supply and advertising of vaping products”.
“Across the public health sector, there is great hope that this can happen quickly at the federal level, to curb rising prevalence and prevent uptake of vaping,” she said.
