E-cigarettes as marketing tools to target youth in South Korea

Escaping tobacco legislation, e-cigarette hardware is now being used as a marketing medium by manufacturers. In a letter to Tobacco Prevention & Cessation, two members of the Korean National Tobacco Control Center point out how vaping manufacturers are using e-cigarette hardware as a marketing medium in South Korea[1].

In South Korea, restrictions on tobacco marketing and advertising cover other nicotine and heated tobacco products but do not apply to e-cigarettes themselves, so e-cigarette makers are reviving strategies once used by tobacco companies.

A strategy for normalizing electronic cigarettes

Two marketing methods are highlighted in this letter. The first concerns the use of luxury brands (Lamborghini, Louis Vuitton) by stickers intended to be affixed to electronic cigarettes in order to personalize them, according to the principle of "customization". Cases and key rings are also available with these brands. The association produced between these prestigious brands and electronic cigarettes thus helps to enhance the latter in the minds of consumers and to encourage identification with the products. A similar process already using the Lamborghini brand on cigarette packets had been used in the past by KT&G, the leading cigarette manufacturer in South Korea. This same cigarette manufacturer had also formed a partnership with the clothing brand Plac Jean, popular with young audiences, in order to associate the world of fashion with that of cigarettes.

The other method used is to produce electronic cigarettes that resemble everyday objects: watches, car keys, computer mice, video game controllers, etc. The aim would then be to assimilate the electronic cigarette to a kind of toy, in order to integrate it into everyday life and promote its use. This standardization strategy seems very close to the efforts deployed in the middle of the 20th century by the tobacco industry, when it encouraged the widespread distribution of lighters and ashtrays and the integration of these objects in many everyday situations (ashtrays in cars, airplane armrests and cinema seats, lighters taking on the most diverse forms).[2].

Marketing methods reminiscent of those of the tobacco industry

These processes are a reminder that the use of cigarette packets as marketing media has long been a core activity of the tobacco industry, and that it is still in operation in many countries, including the United States. In order to counter this trend, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) has, since 2004, encouraged the inclusion of photos and health warnings on cigarette packets, which are now present in 90 % signatory countries. The introduction of plain packaging, currently in place in 17 countries, is specifically aimed at neutralizing the marketing carried by cigarette packets. In Europe, the extension of this measure to e-liquids and heated tobacco products represents one of the next challenges to be met.

Tobacco manufacturers are also trying to distinguish electronic devices from products containing tobacco or nicotine. In France, in a lawsuit between the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT) and Philip Morris France (PMF), the latter claimed that the IQOS device could not be considered a tobacco product, since only its HEETS products (tobacco sticks that can be used by IQOS, but of a different brand) contained tobacco. On December 3, 2021, the 31st Correctional Chamber of the Paris Judicial Court ruled in favor of the CNCT, finding that the IQOS device had no other function than to consume tobacco, thus denying any possibility of advertising IQOS.[3], while PMF believed that it could also serve as a fashion accessory.

M.F.