Touchscreen e-cigarettes with video games to attract youngsters

July 29, 2024

Par: National Committee Against Smoking

Dernière mise à jour: August 19, 2024

Temps de lecture: 5 minutes

Des cigarettes électroniques à écran tactile dotées de jeux vidéo pour attirer les plus jeunes

Researchers from the University of California[1], Riverside, are sounding the alarm that new versions of e-cigarettes, equipped with touch screens, animated displays and built-in video games, could attract young people who are not yet users, while reinforcing nicotine addiction among current users.

The e-cigarette market is evolving rapidly, with new models coming on the market regularly. Recently, some products have been equipped with small, illuminated displays, usually to indicate the remaining battery life. Gradually, the displays have grown to the size of a flip phone screen and have been equipped with retro video games such as "Pac-Man" and "Tetris."

Products that directly target adolescents and encourage consumption

Among the products identified, the researchers found devices that incorporated digital games, with animations that changed as the user consumed the product. They also reported devices that had a built-in Bluetooth system and could be personalized with photos. Similarly, celebrity-branded vapes that offered promotional cards to collect were spotted.

These multifunctional products are available in vape shops and online and cost approximately the same as traditional vaping products, making them particularly attractive and accessible to young people. Among the products identified by the researchers, the “AiRMEZ MATRIX is a disposable e-cigarette, available in 15 different flavors, with a 2.1-inch touch screen. Presented as “the world’s first smart vape,” it works with LUCKY ROOM, a slot machine-type video game. This product has been available online since May 2024 at a price of $19.99 (a little over €18).

Figure 1 - Screenshot generalvape.com (July 2024)

Another example is the URSA POCKET from manufacturer Lost Vape, a refillable pod system with a 1.7-inch OLED screen, equipped with two digital games that encourage users to vape. In the “Virtual Pet” game, the consumer accumulates coins by vaping. The coins are then used to buy food to feed and train their virtual dog. In the “puff count contest” game, the user is ranked according to the number of puffs they consume and can publish their ranking on Lost Vape’s social networks to win prizes. This product costs $38 (€35). For the authors, it is particularly worrying that vaping is necessary to progress in these games, which risks accelerating nicotine addiction.

Figure 2 - Screenshot of the vapesourcing.com website (July 2024)

Other products respond to the user's actions and voice by producing different lighting effects and can change power settings and turn the device on or off by voice command.

The features built into smart e-cigarettes increase the use and purchase of these products. In doing so, these devices reinforce nicotine addiction among current users. In addition, according to the authors, associating nicotine with existing youth behaviors, such as video gaming and screen time use, greatly expands the market for vaping products to youth who have not previously used nicotine products.

A call to regulate these devices

The researchers suggest introducing stricter regulations to limit some functions of e-cigarettes and implementing a total ban on disposable devices - an approach that has been adopted by several countries, including France.

These new models also have a significant environmental impact and contribute to further plastic pollution. As disposable devices are single-use products, they generate significant amounts of waste, a phenomenon further aggravated by the addition of screens, Bluetooth and digital storage linked to these devices. Due to their manufacturing method, these devices are almost impossible to recycle and the materials and chemicals used make them potentially hazardous toxic waste.

During the negotiations of the future plastic treaty, public health and environmental organizations, grouped under the Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance (STPA), are calling for avoidable pollution linked to tobacco and nicotine products to be taken into account, among other things, by the inclusion of new products such as electronic cigarettes.[2].

©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Wong M, Talbot P Pac-Man on a vape: electronic cigarettes that target youth as handheld multimedia and gaming devices Tobacco Control Published Online First: 15 June 2024. doi: 10.1136/tc-2024-058794

[2] Press release, Plastic treaty negotiations: future treaty must include avoidable pollution from tobacco products, CNCT, published on April 22, 2024

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