United States: Campaign against flavored products attractive to young people

A consortium of stakeholders and health organizations has formed and launched a campaign calling on state legislators to ban the sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products to teens.

“Flavors Hook Kids” is a national campaign to ban the sale of flavored nicotine products to teens. The campaign was initially launched in 2018 in California by local health authorities to denounce the tobacco industry’s marketing campaigns for its new products (like Juul). The communication campaign is deployed in the form of television and radio spots, posters and websites by state.

The organizers of this campaign point out that the tobacco industry has been trying to attract young people for decades with attractive flavors. More than 8 out of 10 young people[2] (81%) who used tobacco started with a flavored product and e-cigarette use has increased sharply among adolescents due to the presence of more than 15,000 flavors on the market[3].

The campaign also aims to draw the attention of state health authorities to the long-standing problem caused by menthol cigarettes and cigarillos, with a call for a ban on the sale of these products. These measures would be particularly protective of African-American communities that have been targeted for decades by the tobacco industry. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half of young smokers aged 12 to 17 (54%) consume menthol cigarettes[4]This proportion reaches 70% among young African-Americans.[5]The CDC also warns that smoking increases a person's risk of getting a more severe form of the coronavirus, and that minorities have already been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.[6].

All flavored products undermine the nation's overall efforts to reduce youth smoking and the use of addictive nicotine products, as well as the health problems associated with their use.

Keywords: United States, Flavors, Vaping, Youth, Marketing, electronic cigarette

©Tobacco Free Generation

[1] Campaign Aims to Ban Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products to DC Teens, The Washington Informer, October 19, 2020, accessed October 21, 2020

[2] Flavored tobacco use among youth and young adults, Truth Initiative, January 16, 2018, accessed October 21, 2020

[3] E-cigarettes: Flavored products fuel a youth epidemic, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, February 24, 2020, accessed October 21, 2020

[4] Villanti AC, Mowery PD, Delnevo CD, Niaura RS, Abrams DB, Giovino GA. Changes in the prevalence and correlates of menthol cigarette use in the USA, 2004-2014external icon. Tob Control. 2016;25:ii14-ii20. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053329.

[5] D'Silva J, Cohn AM, Johnson AL, Villanti AC. Differences in subjective experiences to first use of menthol and nonmenthol cigarettes in a national sample of young adult cigarette smokers external icon, Nicotine Tob Res. 20(9): 1062-1068, 2018.

[6] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Groups at higher risk for severe illness. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/groups-at-higher-risk.html

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