Young people more likely to vape after being exposed to smoking in TV series

A new report published on 1^er September 2020 by Truth Initiative reveals that adolescents and young adults heavily exposed to tobacco images in TV series are three times more likely to start vaping than their peers who are not exposed. Published in Preventive Medicine[1], the nationally representative study used a sample of 4,604 young people aged 15 to 24 who had never previously used e-cigarettes or any other tobacco product.

The study titled, “Straight to Vape”[2] denounces the pervasiveness of tobacco in popular TV shows, making young people more likely to use e-cigarettes. While much research has shown that exposure to tobacco in movies drives young people to use, the new Truth Initiative study is the first to link exposure to tobacco and e-cigarette use. The research also found that the higher the exposure, the higher the odds of later initiating vaping—a concerning finding in the age of binge-watching.

Truth Initiative previously drew attention to the prevalence of tobacco imagery on streaming shows in 2018 with its report “While You Were Streaming.”[3]. The second installment of the report, released in 2019, noted the renormalization of tobacco on popular television and streaming platforms. The 2020 report analyzes the 15 most popular series and shows among young people based on ratings and mentions on networks. Overall, 73% of the 15 programs contained smoking scenes in 2018 and 2019, exposing more than 27 million young people to tobacco, including more than 8 million adolescents.

The big screen is also a big part of the problem. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, published a report[4] earlier this year showing that the incidence of tobacco in movies in 2019 was the highest in more than a decade. More than half of the top-grossing films released in 2019 had smoking scenes, translating to 23.7 billion tobacco impressions in theaters alone — which doesn’t include home viewing.

Truth Initiative calls for a comprehensive set of policies to reduce tobacco imagery in film, television and streaming content that increases the likelihood that young people will start vaping. The group calls for deploying anti-smoking and anti-vaping messages that illustrate the harmful effects of tobacco in series and educating directors, writers and producers on the importance of keeping tobacco out of their shows.