FDA Campaign Successful – Fewer Youth Trying Vapes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently concluded a campaign aimed at preventing youth from using vapes. The public health campaign, called The Real Cost, has, according to the agency, prevented nearly 450,000 children from trying e-cigarettes over the course of a year.

The data is based on a study conducted by researchers at RTI International in collaboration with the FDA, and the results were published in the scientific journal American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The findings are based on a survey of approximately 3,400 respondents under the age of 18, which was then extrapolated to a national estimate of 450,000 youth. The study showed that the more youth were exposed to the campaign’s discouraging ads, the less likely they were to start using e-cigarettes.

Vapes and nicotine pouches are products that should never be used by youth... We work purposefully with that in mind through our policy Legal Age Access Only. But the black market is still substantial, especially when it comes to brick-and-mortar sales, so we also welcome campaigns like the one FDA has now so successfully carried out.

Markus Lindblad, Head of Communications at Northerner

The researchers stated that they controlled for several variables previously linked to e-cigarette use, such as income, parental communication, and social media usage. Participants were also instructed not to count cannabinoid products when answering questions about whether they had ever tried vaping nicotine.

However, the selection process used an address-based method, where households were identified and then invited via mail for an adult to first complete a screening survey before giving permission for their child to participate. Critics argue that this selection method may have led to self-selection bias, suggesting that only engaged parents would respond, complete the process, and allow their children to take part.

Overall, youth vape use has continued to decline during the period when FDA’s The Real Cost campaign ran its anti-vaping ads—something many believe could also be attributed to external factors, such as the legal minimum age to purchase tobacco and vape products being raised to 21.

While the FDA has been running The Real Cost to discourage youth from starting to use nicotine products, including vapes and nicotine pouches, it still must balance various goals to achieve the best public health outcomes. Therefore, the agency has also begun to acknowledge the potential of less harmful alternatives for smoking cessation, as indicated in this press release:

“Adults who smoke should also know that different types of tobacco products exist on a spectrum of health risk, with smoked products such as cigarettes being the most harmful. Adults who fully switch from cigarettes to a lower-risk alternative tobacco product can generally reduce their health risks and exposure to toxic and cancer-causing chemicals.”